


Rose of Ravenclaw Tower

by aannikaa



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter Next Generation, Ravenclaw Scorpius Malfoy, Scorpius Malfoy and Rose Weasley
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 22:49:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 59,131
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6397111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aannikaa/pseuds/aannikaa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She is loud and she is kind. She is passionate and she is impulsive. She is brilliant and she is hopelessly oblivious. She is Rose Weasley and she is one of a kind. The Dark Lord may be gone, but growing up with the Weasley/Potter clan and going to Hogwarts, where staircases move and boys are confusing, makes life anything but simple.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Rose of Ravenclaw Tower

Steam and a cacophony of babbling voices surrounded Rose Weasley as she tightened her grip on her father’s sleeve. Platform nine and three-quarters bustled around her as she followed her parents towards the large scarlet steam engine with the words Hogwarts Express painted on the sides.   
“Are they here?” she whispered, swiveling her head around to try and make out Aunt Ginny’s long red hair or Uncle Harry’s tall frame amidst the crowd of people gathered on the platform. “Dad, I thought you said they were going to meet us here?”   
“They’ll get here, Rosie, don’t worry,” Ron Weasley reassured his daughter, wiggling his sleeve from her grasp and taking her hand, which he squeezed affectionately. “We got here a bit early. Your mum was worried we’d be late.”   
“We might’ve been, knowing your driving,” Rose’s mother Hermione retorted indignantly, turning around to scowl. The small brown-haired boy standing next to her cracked a smile, his eyes roving between his parents.   
“My driving was fine,” Rose’s dad said loftily, jutting his chin out.   
His wife rolled her eyes and turned back to their son. Ron glanced down at his daughter and winked at her.   
Rose giggled. “I think you’re a good driver, Daddy,” she said, laughing harder when her dad took a mock bow.   
“Thank you, Rosie,” he said. “I always knew you were the most sensible one in the family.”  
“Oh, Ron, there they are!” Rose’s mother cried, trotting towards another family who had just emerged from the barrier.   
Rose let go of her dad’s arm as soon as she saw her cousin Albus walking towards her with his parents and siblings. His face was drawn just as hers must have been a moment ago; he looked as though he was going to be sick. He wore muggle clothing and Rose looked down at her new robes, wondering in embarrassment if she ought to have waited until she was on the train to change.   
“Hello,” Aunt Ginny chirped, moving around the trolley piled with trunks and an owl cage in order to hug Rose’s mum and dad.   
“Parked all right then?” Ron asked Uncle Harry. “I did. Hermione didn’t believe I could pass a muggle driving test, did you? She thought I’d have to Confund the examiner.”   
“I did not!” Rose’s mum exclaimed indignantly. “I had complete faith in you.”   
While the adults chattered on about muggle driving, Albus turned to Rose, his pale face drawn. “Are you ready?” he asked quietly, his eyebrows knitting together.  
“I think so,” Rose answered, taking his hand. She and Al had been planning for the day they would go to Hogwarts together ever since she could remember. Now that the day had come, it seemed, they were both scared out of their minds.   
“James was telling me all these stories on the drive over—“ Albus began, a tell-tale crease appearing in his forehead.   
“Your dad said not to listen to him,” Rose interjected quickly. “Remember, after he told me they keep snakes in the girls bathrooms? Your dad said not to believe anything James says about Hogwarts.”   
“I don’t know—“ Albus trailed off as they noticed their families meandering down the platform, over to where Hugo, Rose’s brother and Lily, Albus’ younger sister, stood, talking animatedly.   
“I don’t know what house I want to be in!” Hugo cried, his eyes wide as he watched his parents approach. “I didn’t know you had to decide!”   
“If you’re not in Gryffindor, we’ll disinherit you,” Rose’s dad said, “but no pressure.”   
“Ron!” her mum hissed, smacking him in the arm.   
Lily and Hugo laughed, but Rose’s stomach dropped. Glancing at Albus, she knew he felt the same way.   
“He doesn’t mean it,” Rose’s mum reassured the two incoming first years, placing a hand on their shoulders and giving them a smile. “Really, wherever you’re sorted is okay with us.”   
Rose nodded and looked towards her dad in hopes of receiving a confirmation of this sentiment, but he was no longer paying attention to her and Albus. His gaze, and now Uncle Harry’s, was fixed on a small family standing nearby, obscured slightly by the steam.   
“So that’s little Scorpius,” Rose heard her father mutter under his breath, giving Uncle Harry a pointed look before turning to her. “Make sure you beat him at every test, Rosie. Thank god you inherited your mother’s brains.”   
Rose craned her neck and tried to peer around her dad to catch a better look at the boy she was supposed to beat. The steam had thickened, though, and the family was now too fuzzy to make out properly.   
“Ron, for heaven’s sake!” Rose heard her mother admonish. “Don’t try to turn them against each other before they’ve even started school!”   
“You’re right, sorry,” Ron murmured, catching Rose’s eye and giving her a sharp look. “But don’t get too friendly with him though, Rosie. Granddad Weasley would never forgive you if you married a pureblood.”   
Rose opened her mouth to tell her father she hadn’t even gotten a proper look at the boy, so she couldn’t possibly be wanting to marry him, when a shout diverted everyone.   
“Hey!” James, Albus’ older brother, was running towards them, grinning eagerly. James started babbling as soon as he joined the group, but Rose turned and walked a few steps so she was next to her mother.   
“Mum?” she whispered, glancing around. Everyone else appeared distracted by James’ news.   
“Yes, dear?” Hermione Weasley bent down slightly so she was eye level with her daughter.   
“Will Dad really disinherit me if I’m not in Gryffindor?” Rose asked, trying to keep the nervous tremble out of her voice.   
Her mother’s lips quirked up but she didn’t laugh as she straightened and pulled Rose into her chest. “No, sweetheart, he won’t disinherit you,” she said quietly. “He’s just joking. You know he has a terrible sense of humor sometimes.”   
Rose mustered a half-hearted chuckle and tilted her head so she could see her mum’s face. Standing all of five foot two, Rose’s eyes were level with her mother’s chin. “I’m going to miss you,” she said.   
Hermione smiled, her eyes misty as she hugged Rose again and patted her hair. “I’m going to miss you too, Rosie,” she said softly, kissing Rose’s wild red curls. “It’s so strange to think you’re old enough to be going to Hogwarts when just yesterday you were sitting on my lap learning to read.”   
Rose squeezed her mother tightly for another moment and then let go, feeling significantly lighter. She felt small arms wrap around her waist and turned to find her nine-year-old brother Hugo hugging her, his face pressed awkwardly into her hair. She turned and put her arms around his neck; he was almost taller than her even though she was two years older. His brown hair stuck straight up in the back and tickled her face as he leaned forward.   
“Bye, Rosie,” Hugo said. “Have fun at Hogwarts.”   
“Bye, Hu,” Rose murmured. “I’ll write you a letter as soon as I get there.”   
“Will you tell me about the ghosts?” Hugo asked, releasing her and turning his brown eyes towards her excitedly. “Dad told me there’s one there who can take his head off!”   
“Yes,” Rose laughed. “I promise I’ll tell you about the ghosts.”   
“And the forest?” Hugo continued, bobbing excitedly as he began to name off aspects of Hogwarts their parents had mentioned over the years. “And all the animals Hagrid keeps? And the staircases that move? And the annoying paintings?”   
“Yes, yes, I’ll tell you about all of it,” Rose assured him, squeezing his arm. Her father had joined them now and smiled down at her a bit wistfully. When Hugo was satisfied that his sister would fulfill her promise to tell him everything about Hogwarts he stepped back towards his mother and Ron Weasley bent down to give his daughter a hug.   
“Bye, Rosie,” Ron said quietly. “I’ll miss you.”   
“I’ll miss you too, Daddy,” she whispered back.   
“Remember not to annoy Peeves,” her dad muttered, “and be careful around boys, and don’t do anything that will get you expelled. If you need anything, you write your mum and me, or else find Fred and he’ll help you.”   
“Okay,” Rose said, squeezing him tighter. She didn’t want to let go. She wanted to stay right there on the platform with her mum and dad and brother.   
“And remember your mum and I love you,” Ron said.   
“I love you too.”   
“Right, and you’re going to have a great year.”   
“Okay.”   
Her dad let go of her and Rose stepped back, turning to Aunt Ginny, who hugged her and whispered a quick, “good luck!”   
Rose then turned to Uncle Harry, her favorite man in the family right after her dad and cousin Fred.   
“Goodbye, Rosie Posie,” Uncle Harry said, giving her a big hug. He bent down and said right in her ear, “keep an eye on Al for us, love, he might need it.”   
Rose giggled and nodded her head. She glanced towards Al, who was staring at the train with a look of apprehension. Uncle Harry squeezed her shoulder once more and moved towards his son, bending down and speaking quietly to him.   
“Well, dear, you’d better get on,” Rose’s mother murmured, taking hold of one end of the heavy trunk labeled R.W. and hoisting it into the carriage.   
Rose scurried onto the train. Behind her, she could hear Uncle Harry’s voice chime out, “it’s nearly eleven.” A minute later, Albus clambered onto the train behind her. Aunt Ginny heaved the door shut and they moved to a window, leaning out so they could see their families. Rose’s mother was crying freely now, fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks. Hugo had coaxed Ron into giving him a piggy back ride and waved enthusiastically from his perch.   
Out of the corner of her eye Rose caught a flash of blue and she turned to see Teddy Lupin standing on the platform, stretching up tall and kissing her cousin Victoire, who was leaning over the side of the train.   
Rose could feel Albus shifting beside her and she craned her neck in different directions to catch a glimpse of all the students scrambling to board the train. A fair number of eyes had gravitated towards Albus’ dad and Rose felt her face heat up as the stares wandered over to her family and eventually to her and Albus.   
“Why are they all staring?” Albus muttered beside her, casting dark looks around the platform.   
“Don’t let it bother you,” Rose’s dad said, smiling brightly and pretending to pose for an invisible camera. “It’s me, I’m extremely famous.”   
They all laughed and Rose felt another pang of affection for her father as the train began to slowly roll away. She had the urge to jump through the window and beg her parents to take her back home with them, but then she caught sight of Uncle Harry walking along beside them, his eyes trained on her and Albus and a reassuring smile on his face. He stayed beside them until the train picked up enough speed he could no longer keep up and then he waved until they rounded a corner and he was out of sight.   
Rose and Albus withdrew from the window and looked at each other expectantly.   
“I suppose we should find Lucy, then,” Al said, his eyes ferreting around nervously as though expecting their cousin, who was also a first year, to magically appear beside them.   
“She said yesterday she would probably be near the front of the train, since Uncle Percy was stationed there to make sure all the broomsticks met regulation,” Rose answered, holding up the hem of her school robes and starting along down the corridor. Albus fell into step beside her quickly.   
They had gone about halfway down the corridor when they caught sight of Lucy, her red ponytail bouncing behind her as she ran towards them.  
“Al! Rosie! I’m so glad I found you, I was beginning to worry,” she panted, bending over to catch her breath. “I didn’t see either of you get on the train but I saw Uncle Harry out the window.”   
“We’re here,” Al said, smiling.   
“Shall we find a compartment?” Lucy asked, smoothing down several pieces of hair that had come loose from her ponytail during her sprint down the corridor. “I don’t know if there’s any more empty ones, but we might be able to find the others. Molly told me all the cousins share a compartment.”   
After a few minutes of looking it became dreadfully apparent that their chances of finding their cousins were slim, and their hopes of finding an unoccupied compartment even slimmer. Dread settled in Rose’s chest as she realized the rest of the family could very well be at the other end of the train for all they knew.   
“Here,” she said loudly, standing up straighter and marching over to the closest compartment. “We’ll just sit in this one. We can’t be wandering the train all day.”   
“But someone’s in there,” Lucy said, frowning.   
Rose shrugged, stirring up a few morsels of confidence as she looked between her two ill-at-ease cousins. “So we’ll make new friends,” she said, forcing her face into a grin. Without waiting for a response she wrenched open the door and stepped into the compartment.   
Two boys, who both looked to be about her age, stared at her. One was scrawny and blond, with big silver eyes and a pointed chin. The other was a bit bigger with brown hair and warm brown eyes. Both wore identical expressions of confusion.   
“We can’t find an empty compartment,” Rose said hurriedly, feeling her face flush as the boys continued to stare at her. Why had this seemed like a good idea, again? “So, er—“ she trailed off, looking over her shoulder at Al and Lucy, who were both gazing at their shoes and offering no help whatsoever. “Can we sit with you?” she finished lamely, praying the two strangers wouldn’t turn them out.   
The blond boy continued to stare at her appraisingly, but the brown haired one’s face cleared as soon as the question left Rose’s mouth. He shook his head slightly and turned towards his friend, eyebrows raised. “I reckon we’ve got enough room in here for them, aye Scorp?”   
The blond boy merely shrugged, turning to look out the window.   
“Come on in,” the brown haired boy said, smiling at Rose and beckoning her forward.   
Rose exhaled and slid into the seat across from the boys, followed quickly by Albus and Lucy.   
“I’m Nathan,” the brown haired boy said. “Nathan Nott. And this is Scorpius Malfoy,” he gestured towards the blond boy next to him.   
Rose’s eyebrows shot upward as she realized this was the boy her dad and Uncle Harry had been talking about. She eyed Scorpius, who was still staring resolutely out the window. His fine blond hair was combed back off his face, highlighting his high cheekbones and pointed chin. His pale skin rivalled even Albus’ and she could see the reflection of his silvery eyes in the window. With mounting irritation, she wondered why he wouldn’t turn and look at them, let alone introduce himself instead of making his friend do it.   
“You know it’s not good manners to not talk to people when you first meet them,” she blurted out.   
“Rose!” Lucy hissed, scowling across Albus.   
Scorpius turned away from the window now and fixed Rose with a frown. “I wasn’t trying to be rude,” he said quietly.   
“Well—“ Rose began hotly, but Albus put a hand on her arm and cut her off.   
“I’m Albus Potter,” he said, holding out a hand to Nathan, and then to Scorpius.   
Nathan’s eyes bulged and he seemed to choke a bit as he shook Al’s hand. “Potter?” he asked in a strained voice. “As in—“   
“Yeah,” Al muttered, drawing his hand back and running it through his hair in agitation. Rose tried to shake her head discreetly at Nathan. Al hated it when people brought up his family’s fame.   
“So you’re Harry Potter’s son?” Nathan pressed on, not seeing Rose’s head jerks. “Blimey, I never would’ve thought—though, now that you mention it, yes I see it. You have those eyes everyone talks about.”   
Rose could feel Al grind his teeth beside her. “I’m Rose Weasley,” she broke in, hoping to take some of the attention off her cousin. It worked. Both boys turned to her.   
“Nice to meet you,” Nathan said. “I’ve heard of your family too. Aren’t there about twenty of you at Hogwarts now?”  
“Nine,” Rose replied, grinning. “If you count the Potters in there.”   
Nathan nodded and turned to face Lucy, who hadn’t spoken since reprimanding Rose. “And what’s your name?” he asked.   
Lucy’s face went red. “Lucy Weasley,” she mumbled.   
“Pleasure to meet you, Lucy,” Nathan said.   
“Same to you,” Lucy answered.   
“So are you all first years too?” Rose asked, addressing Nathan. She rather liked this boy, though his friend seemed to be a borderline mute.   
“Yeah,” Nathan said, throwing an arm around Scorpius. “We’ve been best friends since we were babies and now we’re going to school together.”   
“What house do you think you’ll be in?” Rose asked.   
To her surprise, Scorpius answered first. “Probably Slytherin,” he said quietly, sliding out from under Nathan’s arm and watching Rose cautiously. “My whole family’s been in there.”  
“Oh,” Rose faltered, feeling Albus stiffen slightly beside her as she bit back a comment about how her dad said Slytherins were all snakes. “Er, that’s—“   
“Wonderful,” Lucy interrupted, throwing Rose a warning look. “How about you, Nathan?”   
“The same,” Nathan said, grinning at Scorpius. “My family’s all been in there too.”   
Rose felt her mouth slide into a frown at this. “But you’re—“   
“And you lot?” Nathan asked, talking over Rose. He turned his brown eyes on her and Rose swallowed her opinion on Slytherin house.   
“Gryffindor,” she said confidently, “like my mum and dad.”   
“Me too, probably.” Albus chimed in, relaxing slightly. “Though I’m not really sure.”   
“I’ll probably be in Ravenclaw,” Lucy said quietly, fiddling with a piece of hair. “That’s where my sister is.”   
“Well, now we know who to go to for homework help,” Nathan said.   
“No, that’s Rosie you want,” Albus murmured, elbowing Rose in the rib. “Everyone says she’s going to be the smartest one in the family.”   
Rose felt her face go red with pleasure and she did her best to look humble, but what Albus said was true; the family really did think she was going to be the smartest one.   
“How many books did you bring with you?” Al asked, gaining confidence as Rose turned a darker shade of red. “Nine? Ten?”   
“Thirteen,” she muttered, looking at the table. She didn’t want the two boys she had just met to think she was a swot.   
“Thirteen?” Albus asked incredulously, his eyebrows disappearing into the messy black fringe covering his forehead. “I don’t even know if I’ve read thirteen books in my life.”   
“Well that’s why nobody thinks you’re going to be the smartest one in the family,” Rose retorted, smiling when Nathan chuckled at her comment.   
“How’d you fit thirteen books in your trunk?” Nathan asked, furrowing his brow. “They have to take up a lot of room.”   
“My mum shrunk them,” Rose answered, grinning. “One of my cousins will enlarge them for me tonight.”   
“That’s clever,” Nathan said, nodding his head. “What—“   
He was interrupted by the sound of the compartment door sliding open. Rose looked up to find James and Fred, her cousins who were both in their third year, standing in the doorway.   
“There you lot are!” James cried, taking Lucy’s hand and pulling her to her feet. “We’ve been looking everywhere for you, thought you might’ve got lost and wandered off the train on accident.”   
“We couldn’t find you,” Al said, a bit defensively.   
“Well, our compartment’s just a bit down the corridor,” Fred said, smiling at Rose. “Come on, everyone’s dying to see you three.”   
“It was nice to meet you,” Lucy said over her shoulder to Nathan and Scorpius as James shuffled her out of the compartment.   
“You too,” Nathan called back. Rose gave him one last grin as she slid out of her seat and followed Fred and Albus into the corridor. Fred closed the door and put an arm around Rose’s shoulder, pulling her close to his side.   
“Rosie, I thought for a while you chickened out and somehow convinced your mum to let you stay home,” he chided, ruffling her hair.   
“I would never chicken out,” Rose said heatedly, pushing aside the memory of her nerves at the station.   
“I know you wouldn’t,” Fred chuckled. “You’re big bad Rose Weasley and nothing scares you.”   
“That’s right!” she cried, laughing as Fred squeezed her. He stopped in front of a very crowded compartment and opened the door, revealing all the Weasley cousins crammed inside.   
Victoire, who was in her last year of school, and Dominique, a fifth year, sat across from each other by the window. Molly, Lucy’s older sister who was a fourth year, sat beside Dom while Roxanne, Fred’s sister who was a year older than Rose, sat next to Victoire. James and Lucy, who had just arrived, sat closest to the door. There was a collective roar of hello when Fred pushed Albus and Rose inside and shut the door, taking a seat beside James and pulling Rose into his lap, as there was no space for her to sit. Albus squeezed in next to Lucy, squashed between his cousin and the door.  
“We thought you lot jumped off or something,” Dom laughed as the three younger cousins squirmed into place.   
“We couldn’t find you!” Albus cried. “We went up and down the corridor looking and then Rose decided to just walk into a compartment—“   
“I didn’t just walk in,” Rose argued. “You were going to just walk around the corridor all day so I opened a door and introduced—“   
“Rosie, I don’t think any of us believe you took the time to introduce yourself before barging into a stranger’s compartment,” Victoire said, laughing as Rose glared.   
“It’s not a bad thing,” James said, winking at her. “You need guts like that for when you get sorted this evening.”   
Rose, Albus, and Lucy all grew stony at the mention of the sorting. “W-what do you mean we need guts for the sorting?” Albus asked, glancing around nervously. “Do we—do they make you do something?”   
“They do,” James said solemnly, reaching across the table and putting a hand on Al’s shoulder. “They take all the first years down to the lake, and make you strip down to your underwear—“   
Albus’ eyes grew wide and Rose saw him glance anxiously towards his trousers.   
“And then one by one,” James continued, his voice dead calm, “they make you jump in the lake and fight the giant squid that lives there.”   
“No,” all three first years breathed. Rose forgot her annoyance and stared unabashedly at James. Hogwarts: A History had mentioned nothing about the sorting ceremony, much to her disappointment. And James seemed so sure of himself when he spoke of it. She knew her cousin told tall tales sometimes but this was something that just couldn’t be made up. It just made so much sense. And she knew the giant squid was real; she had heard her mother talk about it occasionally.   
“James, stop it, look at them, you’re scaring them half to death!” Victoire snapped, reaching across Roxanne to swat at her younger cousin.   
“So—so we don’t have to fight the giant squid?” Rose whispered, turning around to face Fred, whose dark eyes twinkled merrily though his expression was serious.   
“No, Rosie,” he smiled, shaking his head. “No, you don’t have to fight the giant squid.”   
“Fred?”   
“Yeah, Rose?”   
“I’ll still be your favorite cousin even if I’m not in Gryffindor, right?”   
“Of course, Rosie.”   
Rose let out a sigh of relief and leaned back so her head rested beside Fred’s.   
The rest of the train ride passed in a haze of exploding snap and raucous retellings of things that had happened at family gatherings over the years. James got to do his impression of Uncle Harry accidentally hitting himself in the head with a beaters bat and Vic told the story of her Grandmére meeting Teddy Lupin and complaining loudly about “zat blue ‘aired boy weef two left feet.”   
It seemed as though mere minutes had gone by when the announcement came on that they were almost to Hogsmeade Station and students should get ready to disembark. The Weasley compartment was suddenly in a flurry of commotion as the cousins jostled around to retrieve their robes from their luggage. In shifts of two or three they left the compartment to go change, coming back in black robes identical to the ones Rose had been wearing since arriving at the station.   
The train slowed to a stop and Rose could see through the door that the corridors had flooded with students, all buzzing eagerly. Fred nudged her gently in the back and Rose stood up, reaching out and clinging to her cousin’s hand.   
“It’s alright, Rosie,” Fred said quietly, putting his free hand on her shoulder. She nodded, but didn’t release his hand.   
She and Fred led the Weasley clan off the train. A few hundred feet away Rose saw Hagrid towering over students, waving an oversized hand and bellowing, “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over this way!”   
Rose turned with wide eyes to look first at Fred, then at Albus and Lucy who stood behind him, also staring at Hagrid. A wave of anxiety crashed over Rose. Nobody had told her they would be separated from their older cousins. She had counted on staying with them all the way to the castle, only leaving when it was time for the dreaded sorting.   
Fred released her hand and bent down to kiss her on the head. “It’s alright, Rosie,” he repeated. “It’s not that bad I promise. And James and I will be cheering louder than anyone for all three of you when you get sorted.”   
Rose nodded and swallowed heavily, keeping her face neutral so nobody could see the fear coursing through her. Fred squeezed her shoulder and walked in the opposite direction, followed by James and Roxanne, who called good luck to the three first year cousins.   
“You’re all going to be fine,” Molly said soothingly, hugging Lucy and then Al and finally Rose. Dom and Vic repeated the sentiment and gave them hugs as well before following the others.   
Left on their own, Rose, Albus and Lucy stared at each other. “I guess we’d best go to Hagrid,” Rose said, steeling herself. The other two nodded and they walked tentatively towards the giant.   
“Alrigh’ you three?” Hagrid called happily, grinning broadly as they approached.   
“We’re not bad,” Rose said, her voice sounding much more confident than she felt. “Why don’t we go with everyone else?”   
“Firs’ years go by boat,” Hagrid said, not bothering to explain further. He gestured to an area behind him, where there were in fact several small boats at the edge of what Rose guessed was the infamous lake.   
“Do we just pick one?” Lucy asked, eyeing them nervously.   
“Any one you like,” Hagrid said. “It don’ matter, I don’ reckon there’s much o’ a difference. No more’n four to a boat, mind yer.”   
“Right,” Albus muttered, drawing in a deep breath. “I guess we’ll go get one then before they fill up.”   
They meandered down towards the fleet, hearing Hagrid’s renewed shouts of “Firs’ years! Firs’ years over here!”   
Albus chose a boat towards the back and they all clambered in, Rose and Lucy in the front two seats and Albus in one of the back ones.   
“I think they go on their own,” Rose said, peering over the side to see if there was anything indicating how the boats ran.   
“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here?” a timid voice rang out. Rose looked up and saw a small, frightened looking boy standing near them.   
“Sure,” Lucy said, smiling at the boy. He gave her an appreciative glance before climbing in and sitting beside Albus.   
“I’m Matthew Corner,” he said.   
“Albus Potter,” Al muttered.   
“I’m Rose Weasley,” Rose said, smacking Albus on the shoulder to make him be friendlier.   
“And I’m Lucy Weasley,” Lucy chimed in.   
“I thought you might be Weasleys,” Matthew Corner told them, his eyes going between Rose and Lucy. “You have the hair.”   
“Right,” Rose grumbled, raising a hand to her hair. It was wild and curly and the trademark Weasley red. Some days she liked it, but most days she wished she had gotten her brother’s brown hair. Though it was rather nice that she and most of her cousins had the same hair color. Hers and Lucy’s was almost identical, although Lucy’s hair fell in straight sheets down her back.   
“Are you excited to finally be going to Hogwarts?” Matthew Corner asked, leaning back. He immediately leapt forward with a yelp, along with half the first years around them, as the boats began to move of their own accord into the lake.   
“Everyone be careful, now!” Hagrid’s voice rang out. “Don’ lean out of the boats or nothin’ like tha’ if yer don’ wanna fall in!”   
“Have people fallen in before?” Lucy whispered nervously, her brown eyes wide.   
“I don’t think so,” Albus answered grimly. “I’m sure James would have said something if they had.”   
They sat in awed silence as they moved through the foggy evening air. Before their eyes, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry slowly came into view. It was magnificent. Rose reached down and pinched her leg to be sure she wasn’t dreaming. Based on a little squeak beside her, she knew Lucy had done the same.   
“It’s beautiful,” Rose whispered, craning her neck to get a better look. The castle was enormous, situated on rolling grounds, with high towers and impressive turrets. Rose felt her jaw drop a bit as her eyes swept over the place. She had known in theory what the castle looked like; she had read Hogwarts: A History over the summer and could recite facts about how many towers there were, how many bathrooms were on each floor, and how deep below the lake the Slytherin dormitories were located. But nothing had prepared her for the sheer grandeur of the place.   
Rose was so busy staring at the castle she hadn’t noticed the boats were nearing the edge of the lake. When they hit the bank and Matthew Corner climbed out, Rose started and looked around in amazement.   
“We’re here,” she said dumbly, taking the hand Albus held out to her and stepping onto the ground.   
“We’re here,” he repeated, not letting go of her hand as he turned to look at the castle. Cold fingers slid through those on Rose’s free hand and she turned to see Lucy standing beside her.   
“Everyone go to the fron’ doors!” Hagrid called. “Professor McGonagall will meet yer there and then you’ll follow her ter get sorted!”   
Hand in hand with her two cousins, Rose began walking towards the large, oak doors that she knew would lead them into the Entrance Hall. She heard a sharp intake of breath from Al and a moment later he turned to face her, his green eyes wide with horror.   
“Rose, Luce,” he hissed, slowing down. His grip on Rose’s hand tightened almost painfully and she saw his free hand run through his hair. “What if we’re all three in different houses?”   
Rose’s stomach churned at the thought. She was a little ashamed to admit she hadn’t considered the possibility; she had assumed at least one of her cousins would be in the same house as her.   
“That won’t happen,” Lucy whispered, sounding frightened but sure. “Think about it, Al. Families are usually sorted into the same houses. And we have people in Ravenclaw and Gryffindor. We’ll be fine.”   
“It won’t happen,” Rose added, forcing a smile onto her face.   
Al’s grip on her hand relaxed slightly, but he still looked uncertain. The three followed the crowd of timid first years to the front doors, where Professor McGonagall stood. Remembering her mother’s strict instructions not to call the headmistress Aunt Minnie under any circumstances, Rose tried to keep a straight face as the stern witch’s eyes swept over the congregating first years. She met Rose’s eyes and winked almost imperceptibly before looking out towards the lake.   
“Is that everyone, Hagrid?” she called.   
“Yes, Professor,” Hagrid answered, ambling up to the back of the group. “That’s all o’ ‘em.”   
“Very well,” Professor McGonagall said crisply, turning back to the first years. “Welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor McGonagall and I am the headmistress. In a few minutes the front doors will open and you will all follow me into the entrance hall, where you will form a line in alphabetical order by your surnames and we will proceed to the sorting ceremony. For those of you who don’t know, the sorting ceremony is when it will be determined which house you will belong to while you are at school. The four houses are Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Slytherin. Each has a unique set of values and characteristics. While you are at Hogwarts, your house will be your family. Now, if you will follow me.”   
All of a sudden, the front doors swung open, revealing a magnificent entrance hall. Rose squeezed Albus and Lucy’s hands as she tried to get a good look around Professor McGonagall.   
The first years filed in behind the headmistress, all heads swiveling around to take in the splendor. To her left, Rose caught sight of Nathan Nott looking straight up at the large chandelier hanging from the ceiling.   
“If you would please form a line in alphabetical order by your surnames,” Professor McGonagall said crisply, standing by another set of wooden doors which Rose guessed led into the Great Hall. “Those beginning with the letter A will be by me.”   
There was a mad scramble as students tried to find their place. Albus let go of Rose’s hand, shooting her a nervous glance before wandering off to find the Ps. Rose watched him jostle around a few students before she felt a tug on her arm and looked to see Lucy pulling her towards the back of the hall.   
“We’re probably last,” Rose said, rolling her eyes. They walked past Scorpius, who was staring at the floor looking as though he had swallowed a slug, and Nathan, standing two people down, who gave them a smile.   
Rose was right: she and Lucy were last. They took their spots at the end of the line, Lucy in front of Rose, and waited. After a few minutes everyone seemed to have found their place and the Entrance Hall grew quiet. Rose stood on her toes and craned her neck to try and catch a glimpse of Albus’ messy black hair, but there were too many people between them and she wasn’t tall enough to see over everyone. She heard a collective gasp and looked up to see the wooden doors open, offering a view of the Great Hall.   
“Look at it,” Lucy breathed, peering around the boy in front of her. Rose murmured in appreciation, standing on her toes again to try and see the enchanted ceiling she had read about.   
The line of first years moved forward and Rose found, to her horror, that they were walking into the Great Hall.   
“We have to do the sorting in front of everyone?” she hissed to Lucy, whose eyes grew wide.   
The line stopped moving just after Rose passed through the doors. From her position, she could see Professor McGonagall pick up something that looked like a grey rag and put it in front of her. And, to her confusion, the rag seemed to sing, though Rose was too busy trying to see what it was exactly to pay attention to the words.   
When the song ended McGonagall picked up a scroll of parchment and cleared her throat. “When I call your name,” she said to the first years, who had all begun to fidget nervously, “please come forward. Amal, Johanna.”   
A small girl with dark skin and braided black hair moved forward. Rose saw McGonagall pick up the grey thing and, after the girl had sat down, drop it on Johanna’s head.   
“It’s a hat!” Lucy whispered, turning to look at Rose. The two cousins watched with bated breath, wondering whether the hat would burst into flames, or else disintegrate. To their surprise, the wide rip near the brim opened of its own accord and the hat shouted out, “Hufflepuff!”   
One of the tables in the middle burst into cheers and McGonagall removed the hat from Johanna Amal’s head as the little girl scuttled towards the Hufflepuffs, who moved over to make room for her.   
“We just have to try the hat on,” Rose said, stunned and more than a little disappointed. “That’s all we have to do.”   
“It was rotten of them to worry us like that,” Lucy pouted. “And James telling us we had to fight the giant squid!”   
“Oh, you know they just meant it as a joke,” Rose said, tugging Lucy’s ponytail playfully. “I reckon we’ll do the same thing to the younger ones.”   
Lucy shrugged noncommittally and the girls turned their attention back to the sorting as “Boot, Allison” became a Ravenclaw.   
The sorting wore on and gradually, the line of people in front of Rose dwindled. The sorting, Rose discovered, was a bit dull. It felt as though she had been standing for hours and only half the first years had tried on the hat.   
McGonagall cleared her throat and shifted the parchment in her hands slightly before calling out, “Malfoy, Scorpius!”   
The blond boy who had been in the compartment walked forward, his pale face a bit green. He sat down on the three-legged stool and McGonagall dropped the hat on his head.   
There was a long pause, longer than any other so far. Finally, the rip opened and the sorting hat called out, “Ravenclaw!”   
The Great Hall was silent. After a moment the table at the end broke into applause, but it was subdued than all the others. Surprise flashed across Scorpius’ face for a moment, but was quickly replaced by a small smile as Professor McGonagall took the hat off his head and he trotted to the Ravenclaw table, half the eyes in the hall following him.   
McGonagall ignored the odd reaction and continued calling names. After a few minutes Rose heard “Nott, Nathan!” and looked up eagerly. Nathan walked to the stool and the hat was dropped on his head. Rose’s eyes flickered towards the Ravenclaw table and she saw Scorpius Malfoy staring intently at his friend, his silvery eyes wide and hopeful.   
“Slytherin!” the hat bellowed. The table next to the Gryffindors exploded into cheers; evidently, Nathan’s sorting was not as shocking as his friend’s. Professor McGonagall took the hat and Rose watched Nathan take a seat at the Slytherin table. Across the hall, she saw Scorpius’ face fall as he turned back and stared down at his plate.   
“Potter, Albus!” McGonagall cried.   
The chatter of the hall ceased. There was no mistaking it; every single pair of eyes was trained on Albus Potter as he fumbled awkwardly to the small stool and sat down. Rose saw his face grow bright red and his eyes close as Professor McGonagall dropped the sorting hat on his head.   
A full minute went by. Then another. Rose felt as though a knife had been driven through her chest and realized she had been holding her breath. She exhaled and watched. Albus’ eyes were still closed. At the Gryffindor table, she could see Fred and James exchanging worried looks.   
Finally, the rip widened; Rose saw Albus open his eyes, an odd expression on his face.   
“Slytherin!” the hat called.   
The hall remained silent. Not a sound came from any of the four tables as Harry Potter’s son stood up slowly and walked towards the Slytherin table. Ten feet away, James and Fred stared, open mouthed. Then, as though somebody had flipped a switch, roaring applause broke out and several people stood up, cheering Albus on as he approached his new house-mates. Rose watched as Nathan smiled at Albus and moved over so he could sit with him.   
Professor McGonagall continued the sorting but Rose wasn’t listening. She watched Albus’ face return to its normal color and his expression fall back into a smile as he and Nathan talked. Her stomach dropped as a horrifying thought occurred to her: what if she was in Slytherin? Frantically, Rose looked away from Albus and over to the Gryffindor table. She caught Fred’s eye and he winked, giving her a thumbs up. Rose offered a weak smile, praying she didn’t look as ill as she felt.   
“Weasley, Lucy!”   
Rose started as she realized Lucy had been called, meaning she was next. She watched as Lucy scuttled forward and the hat was placed on her head. A moment later it called out, “Ravenclaw!”   
Lucy’s face flooded with relief and she handed the hat back to McGonagall before skipping down to the Ravenclaw table, where Victoire, Dom, and Molly were all standing and cheering.   
Rose watched Lucy take a seat between Scorpius Malfoy and Molly. Neither of her cousins were in Gryffindor. Al’s worry might come true; they might all end up in different houses. At least she had her older cousins—  
“Weasley, Rose!”   
Oh no. Her legs carried her forward, but Rose’s mind froze. She saw Aunt Min—Professor McGonagall standing in front of her, offering a small, reassuring smile. Rose felt herself drop to sit on the rickety stool and she was vaguely aware of something being placed on her head.   
“Hmm,” a small voice said in her ear. “Another Weasley. What to do with you? You have plenty of courage, I can see that clearly. And loyalty. I see great nobility and honor. Oh, but what brains, what a thirst for knowledge. There’s only one place for that, and it’s—“   
“Ravenclaw!” the hat bellowed for the whole hall to hear. Somebody plucked the fabric off her head and Rose stood on wobbly legs and made her way to the Ravenclaw table, grinning when she saw her cousins standing and cheering. She looked over her shoulder and saw James, Roxanne, and Fred whooping from the Gryffindor table. Fred winked again and grinned broadly.   
Lucy scooted over so Rose could sit between her and Molly at the table. When she sat down, her cousins all converged on her.   
“Oh, I’m so glad you’re with me!” Lucy said, hugging Rose tightly. “I was so worried after Al—“   
“You’re going to love it, Rosie,” Molly said, grinning as she put her arm around Rose’s shoulders. “I know your mum and dad were Gryffindors, but really, Ravenclaw is a lot of fun too—“   
“And now there’s five Weasley women all in Ravenclaw together!” Dom cried, leaning across the table to ruffle Rose and Lucy’s hair.   
“Ahem,” Professor McGonagall’s voice carried through the Great Hall and Rose looked up to see the headmistress had taken her place at the staff table. She had not sat down yet, but stood up straight, her eyes wandering over the sea of students as the chatter ebbed away.   
“Welcome back to another year at Hogwarts,” McGonagall said in her usual clipped tone. “As usual, we do have a few announcements. There have been fourteen additions to Mr. Filch’s list of banned items, and he asks that everyone stop by his office to review them. Furthermore I would like to take the chance to warn all new students, and remind a few of the older ones,” her gaze swept sternly over James and Fred, who sniggered, “that the Forbidden Forest is in fact forbidden to all students. In light of that, remember that any students caught marauding out of bounds will be punished.” James and Fred’s shoulders were shaking now as they fought to smother their laughter. Rose smiled as she saw McGonagall’s mouth twitch before she continued. “Now, if you would all be so kind as to bear those rules in mind, then I have nothing else to say, other than welcome back and let us eat.”   
The headmistress sat down and Rose leaned over to whisper something to Lucy. She gasped when she caught sight of the table in front of her. Though a moment ago it had been bare, it now was overtaken with hundreds and hundreds of dishes laden with mountains of food.   
“Alright, Rosie?” Molly asked cheerfully, unceremoniously dropping a spoonful of mashed potatoes on Rose’s plate and pushing it towards her.   
“There’s so much,” Rose said, still staring at the amount of food in front of her. “How are you supposed to try everything?”   
“You don’t,” Dom said, spearing a piece of shepherd’s pie. “Just pick the things you like the best and dig in.”   
Rose grinned and began pulling various dishes towards her, piling her plate high. To her left, Lucy did the same. Rose looked down along the table and her eyes fell on Scorpius Malfoy, who was talking quietly with the boy across from him and throwing wistful glances at the Slytherin table.   
“He looks lonely,” Lucy whispered, having turned to see what Rose was looking at.   
“No he doesn’t, he’s got someone to talk to,” Rose shrugged, shoving a forkful of potatoes in her mouth.   
Lucy wrinkled her nose and daintily bit off a piece of chicken. When she swallowed she looked over her shoulder towards the Slytherin table. Rose followed suit and noticed Albus and Nathan Nott deep in discussion.   
Lucy’s eyes flickered back to Scorpius, who was now staring at his plate. “I think he wishes he was in the same house as his friend,” she whispered.   
“Well, now he’ll make new friends,” Rose said.   
Lucy raised an eyebrow and turned away from Rose, tapping Scorpius on the shoulder. He turned and gave her an odd look, as though unsure if she had really meant to touch him.   
“Hi,” Lucy said, smiling. “I’m Lucy, we met on the train.”   
Scorpius gazed warily at her and gave a small nod. “I remember,” he said quietly.   
“Are you excited to be in Ravenclaw?” Lucy asked, cutting another piece of chicken. “My sister says it’s a lot of fun.”   
“I suppose,” Scorpius shrugged, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. “I don’t really know anyone here except my cousin.” He gestured towards the boy he had been talking to a minute ago, who Rose recognized as another first year. He had a round face and dark hair and was busy talking to a giggling blonde girl.  
“And now you know me,” Lucy chirped. She turned and caught Rose’s arm, dragging her around to face Scorpius. “And you know my cousin Rose.”   
“He’o” Rose forced out through a mouthful of mashed potatoes.   
Scorpius’ lip curled slightly as he nodded towards her. Lucy gave her cousin an exasperated look. “Rose, just because Aunt Hermione and Grandma aren’t here doesn’t mean you can talk with your mouth full.”   
Swallowing quickly and feeling her eyes water, Rose scowled and took a drink from her glass. “My mouth wasn’t full,” she said. “And you surprised me—“   
“It was still gross,” Lucy muttered, picking up her knife and sawing off a centimeter of chicken. “And in front of a stranger, too.”   
“He’s not a stranger,” Rose replied sullenly, reaching down the table for more mashed potatoes. “We’ve already met.”   
Lucy ignored this and continued chatting with Scorpius, only managing to draw short, curt answers from him.   
“You said your cousin’s in Ravenclaw as well?” Lucy asked slowly. “What about the rest of your family? Were any of them Ravenclaws?”   
“No,” Scorpius muttered. “They were all in Slytherin.”   
“Oh, yes,” Lucy answered hurriedly. “I remember you said that on the train.”   
“Wait,” Rose broke in unceremoniously, her fork halfway to her mouth. She narrowed her eyes and stared appraisingly at Scorpius for a moment. “If the rest of your family are all Slytherins, then why are you in Ravenclaw?”   
“Rose!” Lucy hissed, smacking her arm. “You can’t ask that!”   
Scorpius didn’t answer for a moment, but trained his cold, grey stare on Rose, his light eyebrows furrowing as he frowned.   
Rose held his gaze, refusing to be the one to break the stare.   
Scorpius looked away first, sitting up a bit straighter and turning back to his food. “Just because the rest of my family was in Slytherin doesn’t mean I have to be,” he muttered, glaring at his carrots.   
Rose opened her mouth to respond, but Lucy pinched her elbow and Rose fell silent. Scorpius didn’t look up from his plate and she noticed a red flush creep up the back of his neck as he pushed the food around.   
“Are you girls excited to see the common room?” Dom asked, snapping Rose and Lucy’s attention back to the other side of the table.   
“Ooh, yes!” both girls cried, forgetting their irritation and grinning at each other.   
“I reckon it’s nearly time to go up. Dessert should be out any second,” Victoire said, glancing at the silver watch she wore around her wrist.   
As if on cue, the dishes on the table disappeared and were replaced with desserts. Rose’s eyes bulged at the display of biscuits and cakes and tarts in front of her. She snatched a piece of treacle tart and began munching as Dom and Molly launched into a detailed description of the Ravenclaw common room and dormitories.   
“Hi, girls!” a voice rang out behind Rose. She turned and found her cousin Roxanne, grinning down at her and Lucy before sweeping them into a hug. “Oh, I’m so glad my ickle cousins are at Hogwarts with me now!”   
“You’re only a year older than us,” Rose grumbled, wiggling out of Roxanne’s grip.   
“But you’re firsties,” Roxanne said authoritatively. “So I still know a lot more about Hogwarts than you.”   
Unable to come up with a retort for this, Rose scowled and returned to her tart.   
“Roxie, leave them alone,” Victoire chided. “They’ve had a long day already.”   
“I wish one of you was in Gryffindor,” Roxanne said sadly, tucking a piece of her thick black hair behind her ear. “I wanted to be able to show you around the common room.”   
“We’ll come visit one day,” Rose said, beaming as Roxanne’s face lit up.   
“Oh good. I still wish one of you had been sorted there so I wouldn’t be stuck with the boys.” She sent a glare towards Fred and James, who were making snowballs out of ice cream and sending them flying towards unsuspecting students. “But,” Roxanne sighed, “I guess it’s alright.”   
“You’ll still see us,” Lucy said, taking a sip of water.   
“We’ll eat breakfast with you every day,” Rose added, nodding emphatically.   
“Sounds perfect,” Roxanne smiled, hugging each of them again before walking further down the table. She stopped at two boys who were her age, both with dirty blond hair and big, pale blue eyes. Rose recognized them as Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, Aunt Luna’s twins. Roxanne hugged both the boys as she had hugged her cousins and sat down between them.   
“Rose, look,” Lucy whispered, nudging her in the side. Rose looked up and saw Professor McGonagall rise from her seat at the staff table.   
“Attention,” the headmistress called. The babble of the Great Hall ceased as everyone turned to look at McGonagall.   
“It is time for you all to return to your dormitories. Prefects, please be sure to guide our new students to their common rooms. Have a good night.”   
The hall filled at once with the roar of chatter as students began filing out of the Great Hall. Prefects wandered around, raising their hands and shouting “first years! First years over here!”   
Rose felt a tug on her sleeve and turned to see Lucy gripping her arm, her eyes wide as she took in the chaos.   
“Alright, you two, follow us,” Dom said sternly, shepherding Lucy and Rose out of the hall while Vic, who was a prefect, corralled the other first years.   
“Where do we go?” Rose asked, watching as groups of students seemed to take off in all directions, some climbing the staircases, others going back in the direction of the entrance hall, and still others going down towards the dungeons. She saw Albus nervously following a Slytherin prefect down a flight of marble stairs.   
“Ravenclaw Tower is on the seventh floor,” Molly said soothingly from behind them. “Once you know where it is you can’t miss it.”   
“Right,” Rose breathed. She had read about the common rooms, she remembered now. Ravenclaw’s was located in the tower on the west side of the castle, overlooking the lake and quidditch pitch.   
Dom and Molly led the girls up several flights of stairs, warning them about the trick steps. On the fifth floor Vic and the other prefects caught up to them, followed by a group of nervous first years who looked just as lost as Rose felt. She searched through the group, taking note of who looked friendly. When her eyes swept over him, Scorpius Malfoy kept his gaze plastered to the ground in front of him. He seemed to be standing unnecessarily close to his dark-haired cousin, whose name Rose realized she didn’t know.  
The large group climbed the remaining two staircases together until they stood in front of a large door without a doorknob, only a bronze, eagle shaped knocker.   
“You have to answer a riddle in order to get in,” Victoire informed the group. Lucy’s grasp on Rose’s arm tightened and the two girls looked at each other with wide eyes.   
“But—what if you can’t get it?” Lucy asked quietly, her eyes shifting from Vic to Molly.   
“Then you wait for someone who can,” Molly said with a sympathetic smile, putting a hand on Lucy’s back. “That way you learn something.”   
“But—but what if nobody can guess it?” Lucy murmured, obvious panic rising in her eyes.   
“That’s never happened before,” Molly replied firmly, looking up so she addressed all the first years and not just her sister. “It’s usually not too difficult to get the answer. Sometimes you just have to think about the question in a few different ways. And if that doesn’t work, you can always ask someone.”   
Lucy nodded, though she still looked uneasy. Rose freed her arm from her cousin’s grasp and interlaced their fingers, squeezing Lucy’s hand reassuringly.   
Vic stepped forward so she stood directly in front of the door, her hand poised near the knocker. Suddenly, the bronze eagle’s beak opened and it said in a high voice, “What appears once in a minute, twice in a moment, but never in a thousand years?”   
“The letter M,” Victoire answered. The door swung open and the older students ushered the first years into the common room.   
Rose’s head swiveled around in awe. The Ravenclaw common room was a large, circular room, decorated with midnight blue carpet and bronze and blue hangings which draped over the high, arched windows, through which Rose could see the lake, an expanse of the Hogwarts grounds, and a bit of the quidditch pitch in the distance. There was a large fireplace surrounded by several squashy couches and armchairs, and small tables were scattered around the room.   
“Boys dormitories are up the staircase on the left,” one of the prefects, a tall boy Rose didn’t know, said. “And girls are up the staircase on the right. Your trunks are already there and you should find everything in order. Breakfast begins at eight o’clock tomorrow, so mind you aren’t late. If you need any help, the prefects will all be down here.”   
“Come on, girls, let’s get you to your dorm,” Molly said, nudging Rose and Lucy in the back. They walked to the spiral staircase that the prefect had pointed out. Following Molly and Dom, Rose climbed the stairs until she reached the landing at the top. “This must be yours,” Dom said, pushing the door open. “Oh, yes, Rose that’s your trunk I can see your initials on it from here.”   
The dormitory was circular like the common room, though only about a quarter of the size. Like the common room, it was decorated with dark blue carpet and had large, arched windows through which Rose could see a full moon peeking out behind the clouds. Her trunk sat next to one of the beds and she promptly threw herself on the mattress, a sweet lavender smell filling her nose as she buried her face in the blue blanket.   
Lucy flopped down on the bed next to her and sighed heavily. “It’s so comfortable,” she murmured.   
Dom and Molly laughed, shaking their heads at their cousins’ dramatics. “Yeah, the blankets are especially nice in the winter,” Dom said, sitting on the corner of Rose’s mattress. “And at night you can hear the wind whistling through the windows and it’s very relaxing, makes going to sleep much easier.”   
“You’re going to love it,” Molly agreed. She looked at Dom pointedly and jerked her head towards the door. Dom raised her eyebrows but then stood up rather quickly.   
“Well, we’re off to our dormitories now,” she said, moving to kiss Rose and then Lucy on the head. “Vic’s down in the common room if you need anything and we’ll meet you two for breakfast at eight, alright?”   
“Okay,” Rose agreed, not looking up.   
“Have a good night, girls,” Molly said, kissing them both as Dom had. “We’ll see you in the morning.”  
Rose sat up and smiled at her cousins as they exited the room. She noticed two other girls who had entered the dormitory while she had been talking to her cousins. Both girls were obviously first years, based on their expressions of wonder and nervousness as they sat on their respective beds and gazed around the dormitory.   
One girl had bouncing blonde curls that fell past her shoulders and round face, with dark eyes and pink lips. She looked like a doll, Rose thought. The other had chocolate colored skin and thick, unruly black hair that reminded Rose of Roxanne’s.   
“I’m Rose,” she said suddenly without preamble, addressing the two unknown girls. “Rose Weasley.”   
“Hi Rose,” the blonde chirped, flashing a smile. If she found the abruptness of the introduction odd, she didn’t show it. “I’m Allie Boot.”   
“I’m Maren Thomas,” the dark haired girl said, leaning back against her pillows and grinning.   
“Nice to meet you,” Rose said. “And this is Lucy.” She gestured towards her cousin, who had remained face down on her bed but sat up hurriedly at the mention of her name.   
“What? Oh, hello, I’m so sorry, how rude of me! I’m Lucy Weasley, Rose’s cousin,” Lucy said, smoothing her hair down frantically.   
Allie and Maren laughed.   
“Don’t worry about it,” Maren said, stretching her arms out above her head. “I reckon we’ll all get to know each other soon enough.”   
Lucy and Rose nodded, watching their two roommates. An awkward silence fell over the four girls as they all rooted around silently for a topic of conversation.   
“So, er, have you lot looked through the books we need for classes yet?” Allie asked nervously.   
Rose shot up off her bed, smacking a hand to her forehead. “Merlin, I almost forgot about my books!” she cried, running towards the door and ignoring the startled expressions on Allie and Maren’s faces. “I need to get Vic!”  
She threw the door open and hurried down the steps. As she went she vaguely heard Lucy’s voice murmuring something that sounded suspiciously like, “you’ll get used to her.”   
Rose burst into the common room and looked around. Vic sat in one of the armchairs by the fireplace, scribbling something on a piece of parchment. Her strawberry blonde hair glowed from the light given off from the flames and she looked almost translucent in the moonlight.   
“Vic?” Rose asked, slowing down as she approached her cousin. Now that the immediate urgency had worn off, she was struck once again by how large the common room was, and how old her cousin looked sitting by the fire scratching away on her roll of parchment.   
“Yeah, Rosie?” Victoire asked, looking up in surprise. “Do you need something?”   
Rose stepped closer and peered over her cousin’s shoulder at the parchment. “Who are you writing to?” she asked.   
“Your parents,” Vic grinned, hiking up the parchment and scribbling another line. “Your mum, Aunt Audrey and Aunt Ginny all made me promise to write as soon as the feast was over, since none of you have your own owl and they didn’t trust the others to remember.”   
“Are you telling them I’m in Ravenclaw?” Rose asked, frowning as she remembered her father’s joke on the platform that morning.   
“Of course,” Vic replied, glancing sideways at her younger cousin. “Why wouldn’t I?”   
“I don’t know,” Rose said, still looking at the letter and shrugging. “You don’t—you don’t think they’ll mind, do you?”   
“Now why would they mind?” Vic asked, her eyebrows knitting together. She looked at Rose sternly for a moment before pushing the parchment aside and moving over so Rose could squeeze into the armchair with her. “They’re not going to be angry with you for not being in Gryffindor,” Vic said quietly, putting an arm around Rose’s shoulder.   
“Mum said it doesn’t matter,” Rose muttered, leaning her head on her cousin’s shoulder. “But they wanted—“   
“Rosie, your parents want you to make friends and do well in classes and not get expelled,” Vic said, squeezing her arm. “And I’ll bet they’re going to be thrilled you’re in Ravenclaw.”   
“Are you sure?” Rose whispered, looking up so Victoire could see the very real fear in the lines of her face. “What if they’re not?”   
“They will be,” Vic said firmly, hugging Rose tightly. “You’re silly for thinking anything different.”   
Rose leaned back in the chair without responding. She listened to the fire crackle in front of her and watched the silvery moon escape from behind a cloud.   
“Did you need me for something or did you just get scared?” Vic asked quietly, tilting her head to the side.   
“Oh!” Rose started. She had, in fact, come down to ask for her cousin’s help. “Can you enlarge my books for me?” she asked.   
Vic chuckled and moved to get out of the chair. “Yes, I can enlarge your books for you.” She rolled up the unfinished letter and closed her ink pot before following Rose up to the dormitory.   
Allie and Maren had already gotten into bed, and were now whispering to each other excitedly. Lucy sat on top of her covers still, examining the first page of their transfiguration textbook.   
Rose bent down and undid her trunk, taking out the thirteen tiny books her mother had packed away in a corner. She smiled as she set them on her bed, each one like an old friend. She had brought all her Chronicles of Narnia books and Charlotte’s Web, along with other childhood favorites that her mother had read to her growing up.   
“Are these all of them?” Vic asked, smirking at the tiny pile of novels on Rose’s bed.   
“Yes,” Rose answered, blushing slightly. She hoped it wasn’t too strange to bring a pile of muggle novels to Hogwarts. Her father had tried to convince her to only bring one or two. But Rose couldn’t stand the thought of not having her favorite books with her at school. And in the end her mother had been on her side, coming up with the idea of shrinking the books so they would fit in her trunk.   
Vic waved her wand over the pile and muttered an incantation and in an instant Rose’s books sat on the bed in their original sizes.   
“Oh, thank you!” she cried, seizing the volumes and stacking them carefully beside her trunk.   
“Do you want to read one together?” Vic asked, sitting on the corner of the bed. “It might make it feel more like home, and I remember the first night can be a bit overwhelming.”   
Rose grinned and grabbed the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, her very favorite book, from the pile and flopped onto her bed next to Vic.   
“Luce, are you reading with us?” she called to her cousin.   
Lucy glanced over and, when she saw Vic holding the book, sat up and bounded over to Rose’s bed. The three Weasley girls snuggled back against the pillows, Rose’s head on Vic’s shoulder, and Lucy’s legs curled against Rose’s side.   
Victoire cleared her throat and opened the book to the first page, reading in her clear, calm voice, “Once there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them—“   
Rose relaxed as she listened to her cousin read the first chapter. When Vic finished, Lucy was bleary eyed and Rose wore a small, content smile.   
Vic stood up and replaced the book on the pile next to Rose’s trunk before leaning over and kissing each girl on the forehead. “You two get some sleep now,” she murmured. “Tomorrow’s going to be a long day.”   
“Goodnight, Vic,” Rose called.   
“Goodnight, Rosie,” Vic said as she quietly opened the door and left the room.   
Minutes later Rose lay on her side, burrowed in her thick, lavender-scented blankets. A few feet away, she could hear Lucy’s soft whistling as she slept. Or maybe that was the wind Dom had mentioned earlier. Rose didn’t know. Either way, it was a very peaceful sound. She listened to the whistling, whether it was her cousin or the wind, and drifted off to sleep with the dark blue sheets wrapped tightly around her shoulders, and a small, content smile on her face.


	2. Rose of Hogwarts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of Rose's first year at Hogwarts, with all the excitement and surprises.

Rose and Lucy trooped down to the Great Hall the next morning behind Victoire, Dom and Molly. Lucy’s hands fluttered over her hair, flattening stray pieces and nervously pulling at her ponytail as she chattered ceaselessly about classes and professors and whether or not she should have asked her dad to buy her the deluxe edition of A History of Magic.   
“And is it true that Professor Lyncroft gives you detention if you answer a question wrong?” she breathed, her eyes wide. She pulled at a stray hair and tried to tuck it back into her ponytail. “James told me she does.”   
“Don’t listen to anything James tells you,” Molly said firmly, catching Lucy’s wrist and lowering it gently. “Just relax, Luce. No one’s going to ask you to do too much on the first day.”   
“And if you can’t do something, nobody minds,” Victoire added reassuringly. “You won’t get in trouble if you don’t know something. Most people don’t know anything really on their first day.”  
Lucy nodded and fell silent, her hand flying up again to smooth her hair. Rose gave her cousin a sympathetic smile and patted her own hair, which Molly had twisted into a tight plait that morning.   
The Great Hall buzzed with students. All four house tables were nearly full and the five Weasley girls had to search for a few minutes in order to find seats together.   
Rose found herself squashed between Lucy and a dark haired boy she remembered being sorted the night before, though she couldn’t recall his name. She wiggled in her seat so she wasn’t pressed quite so close to the stranger and reached out for a plate of toast.   
“You’ll both probably have letters,” Victoire said to Rose and Lucy, looking over her glass of pumpkin juice. “And just be ready—it’s always a bit of a shock the first time you see the mail delivered.”   
“What do you mean it’s a shock?” Rose asked, furrowing her brow and smothering a piece of toast with jam.   
“Just wait,” Dominique said, looking up and grinning. “You’ll see.”   
Rose shrugged and took a large bite of toast. At the same moment, the ceiling seemed to fall in and she promptly spat out her toast with a startled cry as, suddenly, hundreds of owls swooped through the hall, circling the tables and dropping letters and packages in front of their recipients.   
“Bloody hell,” she murmured, staring in awe at the mass of owls overhead.   
“We told you,” Dom laughed, reaching across Lucy to pat Rose on the shoulder. “And mind you watch your language, I don’t want your mum and dad thinking we taught you how to curse.”   
Rose flushed, but was spared the need to answer when Metis, her family’s owl, landed in front of her with a letter tied to her leg.   
Rose hurriedly untied the letter and opened it, recognizing her mother’s neat handwriting at the top of the page.   
Rosie,   
Congratulations on being sorted into Ravenclaw! Your father and I are so proud. Have a good first day of classes and remember, it’s perfectly acceptable to speak up and answer any questions the professors ask, don’t worry about what other kids think. Make sure you pay attention and take good notes and don’t let your father tell you that you don’t need to work to get good grades.   
We’re so excited to hear from you, try to write soon, sweetheart. We want to hear about your teachers and classes and the other kids in your house. Have you made any new friends? Is there anybody else in Ravenclaw we know? How is Lucy?   
That’s all for now, I think Dad wants to add something too.   
Lots of love,  
Mum  
Rose beamed and her eyes dropped down to the second half of the page, which was covered in her father’s untidy scrawl.   
Rosie Posie,   
I can’t believe you’re a Ravenclaw! I thought for sure you would be a Gryffindor like your mum and me, but now I can tell everyone about my brilliant daughter who’s in Ravenclaw and going to change the wizarding world one day.   
Don’t let Mum wind you up too much about classes, you’re going to do great. She’ll try to tell you that you still need to take all sorts of notes and always pay attention, but you can miss a few things and still be fine. And no matter what she says, you don’t have to stay awake in History of Magic to do well. But don’t tell her I told you that.   
We miss you. Hugo isn’t as fun to play chess against, but he’s getting better. Mum’s still terrible at it, I think I’m going to give up trying to teach her. Maybe you can try over Christmas.   
Don’t be a show-off in class, even if you do know all the answers. Try not to get too lost in the castle. If any boys are mean to you, get Fred or James to hex them for you, I don’t want you getting a detention your first week of school.   
Write soon, Hugo wants to hear from you.   
Love, Dad

Rose laughed and reread the letter, giggling at her mum’s sensible advice and her dad’s silly comments. Merlin, she missed them both. But, she thought as she folded the letter and slipped it into the pocket of her robes, the excitement of finally starting classes made up for it.   
A tiny wizard hobbled over to the Weasley girls, a stack of parchment in his hand and his wand out.   
“Good morning, girls,” he greeted them in a high voice. “Time to get your schedules in order. Let’s see, Victoire—“ he tapped his wand to a sheet of parchment and Rose watched in astonishment as writing appeared out of nowhere, outlining her cousin’s class schedule.   
“Here you are,” the tiny man said, stretching out across the table to give the schedule to Victoire. “And now Dominique.”   
The wizard repeated the process with Dominique and Molly, tapping his wand to the parchment and handing it over to the girls. Finally, he turned to Rose and Lucy.   
“Ah, two new Weasley girls!” he squeaked. “I’m Professor Flitwick, the charms teacher and head of Ravenclaw house.”   
The girls murmured greetings, watching eagerly as Professor Flitwick tapped two pieces of parchment with his wand and handed them over.   
“It looks like I’ll see you this afternoon,” he said merrily before turning to the boy next to Rose and introducing himself.   
“What’ve we got today?” Lucy asked quietly, scanning her schedule.   
“Transfiguration first,” Rose said, looking over the day’s classes. “Mum said that one can be a bit tricky. Then history of magic, then potions. And after lunch we have herbology, charms, and defense against the dark arts.”   
“Oh dear,” Lucy breathed, looking up nervously. “That’s nearly every class—“   
“Good morning, o cousins of mine!” a voice sang out. Rose turned around and found James grinning down at her, with Fred and Roxanne behind him.   
“Good morning, Rosie,” Fred said, stepping forward and leaning over her shoulder to steal a piece of toast. “I see you’ve got your schedule and everything.”   
“Flitwick just gave them out,” Rose said, showing him the parchment.   
“Let’s see,” Fred muttered, taking the schedule and glancing over it. “Transfiguration, potions, charms—the whole lot.” He ruffled her hair and winked. “Looks fine to me.”   
“I hope you have potions with Al,” James chuckled, peering over Fred’s shoulder at Rose’s schedule. “Five galleons says he’ll accidentally blow up a cauldron.”   
Rose grinned, taking back the parchment and pretending to swat James with it. “You’re horrible,” she said, trying unsuccessfully to smother her giggles.   
“Oy, we’d better get going, your first class starts in ten minutes,” Dom called, rising from her seat at the table. She smiled at the three Gryffindor cousins and motioned for them all to follow her out of the Great Hall. They did so, exiting the hall in a big clump and drawing a few stares.   
“Where is Al?” Rose asked, realizing she hadn’t seen her cousin at all that morning. She glanced over her shoulder towards the Slytherin table and her eyes found his shock of black hair immediately; it stood out even more now against the green of his tie. He wasn’t looking up and so she couldn’t catch his eye. He was deep in conversation with Nathan Nott, the boy they had met on the train the day before.   
“Looks like he’s doing alright,” James said, unusually serious as he watched his younger brother. Shaking his head, he turned to Rose with a grin. “He always was contrary, we really shouldn’t be surprised at all he was put in Slytherin.”   
“But now I won’t get to see him as much,” Rose pouted.   
Fred, who was walking next to her, put an arm around her shoulder and hugged her to his side. “The family needs Ravenclaws,” he said cheerfully. “And you’ll still see him, just like you’ll see us.”   
“Are you sure?” Rose asked, her voice laced with doubt. “What if he makes all new friends and we don’t have classes together—“   
“Rosie, we’re a family,” Fred said firmly, squeezing her arm. “You’re stuck with us. Just because you’re in a different house doesn’t mean we’re going to leave you alone now. And I promise that you’ll see Al even though he’s not in the same house as you.”   
Rose gave a small smile and nodded her head. Her chest swelled with gratitude and affection for her cousin. Fred squeezed her shoulder one last time and then withdrew his arm, staying beside her as the Weasley pack made its way through the corridors.   
The older cousins walked Rose and Lucy to the transfiguration classroom, depositing them in the doorway with last minute words of reassurance. Rose waved and tried to smile, but it came out half-heartedly. When their cousins had rounded a corner and were no longer in sight, Rose and Lucy looked at each other apprehensively and nervously entered the room, choosing a pair of desks in the middle and sinking down.   
First year students trickled into the classroom, most wearing the same nervous expression as the cousins. The Ravenclaws shared transfiguration with Hufflepuff, Rose realized, watching students wearing yellow ties file in and find seats. A pang of disappointment reverberated in her chest and she realized just how much she had been counting on having classes with Albus. Being here without him felt wrong somehow.   
“Is this seat taken?” someone asked.   
Rose looked up to find the dark haired boy she had sat next to at breakfast staring at her questioningly, pointing at the seat next to her.   
“Er, no,” she mumbled. “Go ahead.”   
“Thank you,” the boy breathed, dropping into the chair in the same fashion Rose and Lucy had done moments earlier before turning to face them. He had a round face and dark blue eyes, which were crinkled around the edges. “You’re in Ravenclaw too, right?” he said, gesturing to the bronze and blue tie around Rose’s neck.   
“I am,” she replied, sitting up a little straighter. She gestured to Lucy, who had been busy arranging her supplies on her desk. “We both are. I’m Rose Weasley, and this is my cousin Lucy.”   
“Tommy Greengrass,” the boy said, smiling and extending a hand towards her. “Nice to meet you.”  
“You too,” Rose said, taking his hand.   
Tommy opened his mouth to say something else, but his eyes shot suddenly to the doorway and he dropped her hand in order to wave to someone.   
“Oy, Scorp!” he called. “Over here, I got us seats.”   
Rose craned her neck and saw the blond boy she had talked to the day before, Scorpius Malfoy, walk towards them, his face uneasy.   
“Thanks,” he muttered to Tommy before slipping into the seat beside him. He leaned over and whispered, so nobody but Tommy and Rose, who strained her ears, could hear. “Why didn’t you wait for me?”   
“I thought you were with me when I left,” Tommy whispered back.   
“Next time wait, please,” Scorpius said quietly, bending down to retrieve his book and quill from his bag. “I don’t like walking around here by myself.”   
“Alright,” Tommy replied, giving Scorpius a smile much like he had given Rose. “And next time don’t take so long to eat breakfast.”   
Scorpius scowled at this and his eyes slid towards Rose, who hurriedly looked towards the front of the room and tried to act as though she hadn’t been listening to their conversation.   
A middle-aged witch with light brown hair and dark eyes stood at the front of the room, pointing her wand at a chalkboard so that writing appeared, as though done by an invisible hand. The witch glanced towards the clock before lowering her wand and facing the students.   
“Ahem,” she cleared her throat, her eyes sweeping over the students as the chatter ceased. “Good morning, and welcome to Hogwarts. My name is Professor Lyncroft and this is transfiguration. While by no means easy, this will be one of the most important branches of magic you will study, and you shall find that this class requires a great deal of work both inside and outside of the classroom.”   
There were several groans at this, and Professor Lyncroft raised an eyebrow.   
“However,” she continued. “Should you put in the effort required, you will find that at the end of your studies you are able to perform complex and rather amazing magic. For example,” she raised her wand and pointed it at an empty chair, “you can do this,” she waved her wand once and suddenly, a chicken stood in the chair’s place. The class murmured in appreciation. Professor Lyncroft smirked and waved her wand again, saying, “And this.” The chicken was replaced by a tall grandfather clock, which chimed out the hour. “Or even this,” with another wave, the grandfather clock turned into a small giraffe, which blinked warily as it eyed the students.   
“Blimey,” Rose muttered to Lucy, who was staring open-mouthed at Professor Lyncroft. “D’you think we’ll be able to do that some day?”   
“I hope so,” Lucy whispered back.  
With a final wave of her wand, Professor Lyncroft transfigured the giraffe back into a chair and looked out at the class again. “Now, you won’t be doing anything like that for a long time,” she said firmly. “You must start small with transfiguration. Careless spell-casting only leads to accidents, and my goal is to ensure that all of you learn how to properly control your magic while remaining safe and unharmed. That being said, anyone who does not take this seriously, who plays the fool in my class and thus puts themselves and others at risk, shall find themselves removed from class at once and not permitted to return. Do you understand?” She fixed them all with a stern glare that would have made Professor McGonagall proud.   
“Yes, Professor Lyncroft,” the first years chanted, all rather subdued by the change in discourse.   
“Good,” the teacher said. “Now, everyone take out parchment and a quill, and copy down what’s written on the board.”   
They spent the majority of the class period taking notes, while Professor Lyncroft explained the theory behind basic transfiguration. At the end of the lecture she gave each student a match with the instructions to try and transfigure it into a needle.   
Rose set the match on her desk and took out her wand. She waved it as she had seen the professor do and said the incantation. Nothing happened. She tried again. Nothing happened.   
“Make sure you’re focused,” Professor Lyncroft called from across the room. “If your mind is still at breakfast, you won’t be able to get very much done.”   
Pursing her lips, Rose focused with all of her might on the match, picturing it transforming into a needle. She waved her wand and said the incantation. The end of the match sharpened and the texture of it smoothed so it was somewhere between wood and metal.   
“Well done, Miss Weasley,” Professor Lyncroft said from behind her, reaching out and examining the match-needle hybrid that now sat on the desk. “That’s an excellent start.” She tapped the hybrid with her wand and it returned to its original state. Lyncroft handed the match back to Rose. “Try again, now that you know what to do. And five points to Ravenclaw.”   
Rose nodded and felt her face flush with pleasure. As far as she knew nobody else had made any progress on transforming their matches. With renewed confidence and a grin, Rose pictured once more the match in front of her turning into a needle, imagining every stage of the transfiguration. She waved her wand and murmured the incantation. This time, there was no hybrid, but a needle sitting in place of the match.   
“I did it!” Rose cried, poking Lucy to show her. Turning away from her desk, where a stubbornly un-transfigured match lay, Lucy’s eyes went wide and she took the needle from Rose, turning it over in her hand.   
“Wow,” she said. “Good job, Rosie.”   
The bell rang, signaling the end of class and Professor Lyncroft returned to the front of the room, calling out, “Good job today, everyone. Your homework is the first fifteen questions on page fourteen of your book. And well done to Miss Weasley and Mr. Malfoy for being the first to successfully transfigure their matches.”   
Rose’s grin faded somewhat as she glanced over at Scorpius Malfoy who, sure enough, was holding a glistening needle much like her own and wore a small, pleased smile.   
The Ravenclaws packed up their books and made their way down to history of magic. Rose, remembering her dad’s advice in the letter, dozed off less than ten minutes into Professor Binns’ lecture on prehistoric magic. She awoke at the end of the hour to Lucy poking her in the ribs and pursing her lips disapprovingly.   
“You can sleep next time and I’ll take notes,” Rose offered. “We can trade off.”   
“Or we could each take our own notes,” Lucy muttered, though Rose saw a smile peeking through her tight lips.   
“That seems a bit silly though, doesn’t it, when one of us could be napping?” Rose asked, giggling as Lucy’s lip twitched.   
“You’re supposed to be the smart one,” Lucy said as they set off to the dungeons, where potions was held. “Shouldn’t you be the one taking notes?”   
“Eh,” Rose shrugged, shaking a piece of hair out of her face. “I’d rather sleep, though.”   
Rose and Lucy paired up for potions. They shared a table with Maren and Allie, the two girls who shared their dormitory. To Rose’s delight they had the class with Slytherin. Al sat in the back with Nathan Nott. He was laughing at some joke when Rose turned and caught his eye. Al grinned at her and Rose giggled, thinking this would be a fun class with Albus in it.   
That thought was quickly expelled from her mind less than half an hour into the lesson. Professor Lecher, the potions master, had set them the task of brewing a potion to cure boils. Rose rushed into the task as she did everything else, bouncing with excitement.   
It wasn’t until they were halfway through and the contents of their cauldron was a murky brown instead of the pretty sky blue described by the book that Rose admitted something had gone wrong.   
“You skipped step five,” Lucy said, pointing out the line in the directions. “We never added the dandelion roots.”   
“Oh, bollocks,” Rose muttered, scanning over the printed instructions and realizing her cousin was right. “What do we do now? Just keep going? I’ve got all the mushrooms cut up.”   
Lucy sighed and pulled the cauldron closer to her side. “I’ll figure something out,” she said. “I told you to read the directions first.”   
In the end their potion wasn’t the worst one of the class. That honor belonged to a Slytherin boy whose brew ended up as a foul-smelling mixture with the consistency of mud that made everyone in the classroom wrinkle their nose in disgust. This was only a small comfort to Rose, though, whose cheeks burned scarlet for the last twenty minutes of the lesson after she added the lemongrass too early and their potion began crackling and smoking heavily, only stopping when Professor Lecher came over and spouted water into the cauldron.   
“Guess I should’ve put my money on you blowing up a cauldron, eh, Rosie?” James chuckled as he slid into the Ravenclaw table at lunch. “Al told me you had an explosive start in that class.”   
“It didn’t explode!” Rose snapped, glaring at her cousin and thinking she would like nothing more than to send a bat bogey hex at Al for telling everyone what had happened. “It just started smoking.”   
“Whatever you say,” James said, laughing at her expression. “It’s alright, though. My first day I accidentally vanished a kid’s eyebrow in transfiguration and still have no idea how I did it.”  
“You didn’t,” Rose breathed, fighting to keep a glare on her face while holding in her laughter. She was still sore at James for making fun of her potions failure.   
“I did,” he said with a nostalgic grin. “I got bored and tried to transfigure it into a caterpillar and then it just up and disappeared.”   
Rose’s resolve crumbled and she burst into laughter, receiving several curious stares from other students. 

The rest of the day passed quickly. Uncle Neville gave Rose and Lucy large hugs when they walked into herbology and then proceeded to tell them about all the different plants they would be studying in the upcoming year. In charms, which they shared with the Gryffindors, they met tiny Professor Flitwick again, who spent the first half of class doing roll call. When he called “Malfoy, Scorpius,” several Gryffindors began whispering and some raised their eyebrows.   
“Why are they doing that?” Rose asked Lucy, frowning at her whispering classmates.   
“I don’t know,” Lucy whispered. They twisted in their seats and Rose saw Lucy grin sympathetically at Scorpius, whose face had gone crimson and who was staring determinedly at his desk while Flitwick continued to call names. Rose sat back in her seat, wondering what was so special about Scorpius Malfoy.   
After charms they had defense against the dark arts, which was taught by a tall, kind-looking witch named Professor Spinnet. She had them take out their books and spent the class discussing all the different kinds of magical threats which existed. Rose found it fascinating, but when the bell rang signaling the end of class she still breathed a sigh of relief. Nobody had mentioned how exhausting it was to sit at a desk all day and learn about magic. 

~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~

Rose and Lucy found themselves in the library the next evening, accompanied by Fred and Albus.   
“How’re you lot doing?” Fred asked, taking out a drawing of a strange, furry creature and beginning to fill in the snout. “The first week can be tough.”   
Albus shrugged and bent over his transfiguration questions. “It’s okay,” he said. “Although I didn’t think there would be this much writing. I thought James was joking when he said we’d get a mountain of homework every day.”   
“I think it’s the only thing he didn’t exaggerate,” Rose said wryly, looking up from the parchment in front of her. Unlike her cousins she wasn’t working on homework, but writing a letter to her parents.   
“You get used to it,” Fred said, grimacing. “Though it never does get any easier.”   
“Lovely,” Rose snorted.   
“Rose, have you done the charms homework yet?” Lucy asked, peering over her textbook. “What’s the proper wand movement for the levitation charm?”   
“Swish and flick,” Rose replied. She had not done the homework yet, but remembered practicing the charm in class.   
Lucy nodded and began scribbling rapidly on a piece of parchment.   
At the mention of charms, Rose remembered the Gryffindors’ peculiar reaction to Scorpius Malfoy’s name being called the day before.   
“Fred, do you know who Scorpius Malfoy is?” she asked.  
Fred froze with his quill positioned over his parchment. Slowly, he set it down and turned to look at Rose. “Yes,” he said, frowning at her. “Why?”   
She quickly told the story of Flitwick’s roll call and the whispering and stares that had erupted at Scorpius’ name. Fred sat back, his eyebrows knitting together. Across the table, Albus and Lucy were both looking at Rose; Albus frowned while Lucy looked hesitantly towards Fred.   
When Rose finished her story Fred ran a hand through his hair and sighed. “Have your parents ever mentioned the Malfoys to you?” he asked, watching her with a serious expression.   
“Dad pointed him out at the train station and said I should beat Scorpius at every test, but that’s all,” she answered, shaking her head. “Why? What did they do?”   
“Er,” Fred hesitated, putting an arm around Rose’s shoulder and absently pulling on the ends of her hair as he thought.   
“Mr. Malfoy was a death eater,” Albus broke in, his face stony. Rose and Lucy’s mouths dropped open and Fred’s gaze snapped up curiously.   
“Really?” Rose asked quietly, her eyes wide as she stared at her cousin.   
“Yeah,” Albus nodded. “My dad told me over the summer and made me promise not to say anything. He said Scorpius didn’t need any more people judging him for his family.”   
“He was a—“ Rose trailed off, deep in thought. She knew about the wizarding wars and the role her parents had played in them. After all, how could she not? Over the years various family members had shared different tidbits and stories about her parents and Uncle Harry’s antics when they were at school. But everyone always refrained from telling her and her cousins anything truly disturbing, and they almost never mentioned any of the old death eaters by name. She guessed that some of her older cousins, like Vic and Dom, knew a bit more but, like Albus, had been sworn to secrecy.  
“He did say most of his family’s been in Slytherin,” Lucy said quietly, biting her thumbnail. “No wonder everyone was so shocked when he was put in Ravenclaw.”   
“Nathan was telling me about it,” Albus added. “He and Scorp have been best friends since they were babies, you know, like us, and he said Scorp doesn’t know what to do, now that he’s in a different house.”   
“He talks to that Tommy bloke,” Rose said, remembering the dark haired boy Scorpius always seemed to be with.   
“That’s his cousin,” Albus said.   
“How’d he end up in Ravenclaw if his family were in with Voldemort?” Rose asked suddenly, frowning. “That should be like a one-way ticket into Slytherin.”   
Albus’ eyes narrowed and Rose immediately regretted her words. “It’s not like that,” he snapped, glaring at her. “Slytherin isn’t evil, Rose, and if that’s your thinking then I’ll just—“   
“No, no, don’t, I’m sorry!” she said quickly, reaching out and taking Al’s hand to prevent him from storming off. “I’m sorry, I didn’t think—“   
“You didn’t,” Al grumbled, sitting back in his chair and fixing her with a frown. “And if you think he belongs in Slytherin just because his whole family’s been in there, then why aren’t you in Gryffindor? Both your parents were, and so were Grandma and Grandpa. You and I are just as strange as he is when it comes to houses. In fact, I’m maybe even stranger.”   
“Al, don’t say that,” Lucy piped up, sending Rose a sharp look and putting an arm around Albus. “You know we’re all in the right houses.”  
“Al’s right, Rosie,” Fred said quietly, giving Rose a small smile. He took bent back over his drawing and resumed working. “But,” he continued suddenly, looking up and giving all three of his cousins a warning glance, “don’t go getting too friendly with him. You never know with someone like that—“ he trailed off and didn’t finish his thought, but all three understood his meaning: be careful of Scorpius Malfoy. 

~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~

The rest of September wore on. Rose found that classes were, just as her father predicted, not very difficult. Except for potions, which Rose was quickly growing to despise. She always seemed to miss some step, or else add an ingredient too early, and her concoctions never lived up to her expectations. To make matters worse, Scorpius, who had matched her in every other class, had a knack for potions and Professor Lecher had already declared him the most talented potioneer in the year. Rose grumbled and ground her teeth together every class as her hair frizzed around her face from the fumes and her mood plummeted.   
“Rosie, you just need to be more careful,” Lucy sighed in exasperation one day after Rose accidentally added two frog brains instead of one to their hiccupping solution.   
Rose scowled and peeked at the table across the aisle, where Scorpius and Tommy Greengrass’ potion bubbled away happily.   
“I don’t know why we can’t just learn the theory,” she grumbled as Lucy stirred the contents of their cauldron. “That’s all that matters anyways.”   
“You know that’s not true,” Lucy said matter-of-factly. “You’re just mad this is something that doesn’t come naturally to you.”   
“Other things don’t come naturally to me,” Rose muttered flicking a flyaway strand of red hair away from her face. “They all make sense though.”   
“Potions makes sense if you’re patient,” Lucy said.   
“Well it’s stupid,” Rose mumbled. 

Her parents wrote faithfully once a week. After her conversation with Al in the library, Rose wrote home naming the other students in Ravenclaw and detailing what her cousin had told her about Scorpius Malfoy. To this she had received a lengthy letter from her mother going on about breaking down stereotypes and promoting inter-house unity and how it was wonderful that he was able to break out of his family’s tradition. Her father, in a short paragraph at the end, was more reserved, telling Rose to still be careful of all boys, even if they seemed nice, and to be especially wary of Malfoy. Rose kept his words at the back of her mind whenever she was in close proximity to Scorpius, which was fairly often as they shared all their classes and a common room.   
It wasn’t difficult to avoid Scorpius, though, as he seemed to avoid most people on principle. He was rarely separated from his cousin Tommy and on the few occasions Rose found him alone in the common room, he was absorbed in his homework or a book and hardly looked up, let alone spoke. 

~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~

At the end of September the Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs had their first flying lesson with Mr. Wood, the flying instructor and quidditch referee. Rose bounced with excitement as they walked down to the quidditch pitch; after spending countless hours playing quidditch with her cousins at home, she couldn’t wait to get on a broom. She would have preferred to use her own broomstick, a Nimbus 3500 she had received for her tenth birthday, but the school brooms would do if it meant she could fly.   
The students trooped down to the pitch, where Mr. Wood instructed them to stand beside a broom and wait. Rose walked down the line of brooms laid out on the grass. They were all frightfully old; some of them looked as though they had been there since Grandpa Arthur was at school. Finally, she chose a Cleansweep that seemed relatively new and stood beside it. Lucy stood next to her by a Comet 190, pulling at her hair and eyeing the broom nervously.   
Remembering Lucy’s fear of heights and how she always declined any invitations to play quidditch with the cousins, Rose gave her a sympathetic smile and reached out to squeeze her hand.   
“You’re going to be brilliant,” she said warmly.   
Lucy nodded, staring at the ground and chewing her lip.   
“Really,” Rose pressed on, “flying is in our genes, Luce, you have nothing to worry about. And the old Comets don’t go too fast. You’ll be okay.”   
“Alright,” Lucy whispered, still looking a bit ill as Mr. Wood took his place in front of the first years.   
“Now,” he said firmly, glancing around to be sure everyone was next to a broom, “I want all of you to put your hand out over your broom like this,” he stuck his right hand straight out in front of him so it was parallel to the ground. “And say firmly ‘up!”   
There was a babble of squeaky voices calling “up!” The Cleansweep flew up to Rose’s hand immediately and she beamed. Beside her, Lucy had less luck. The Comet had merely rolled over, not moving an inch off the ground.   
“You have to say it firmly,” Rose told her cousin. “You can’t be nervous.”   
“But I am nervous,” Lucy moaned, eyeing the broomstick warily.   
“Try to talk like you aren’t, at least,” Rose said. “If you don’t sound like you’re nervous, it won’t know.”   
Lucy huffed and straightened up, taking a deep breath. “Up!” she commanded, glaring at the broomstick. To both their surprise, the broom lifted off the ground and then slowly rose to Lucy’s hand.   
“It worked,” she said dumbly, staring perplexedly at the Comet in her hand.   
“See?” Rose laughed, patting Lucy on the shoulder. “I told you.”   
“Everyone, look at me!” Mr. Wood called.  
Rose glanced around and saw nearly everyone had managed to get their brooms off the ground.   
“Now, what you’ll want to do is put one leg on either side of the broom like this,” Mr. Wood said, demonstrating with the old Silver Arrow in his hand. “You’ll want about half the handle in front of you,” he continued. “And make sure you hold on tight with both hands!”   
There was a flurry of movement as the students rushed to comply. Rose settled the broom between her legs and gripped the handle, waiting for the instruction to kick off.   
“Now, bend your knees,” Mr. Wood said. “No, Miss Amal, you’re much too far down. If you ride like that a gust of wind will knock you off—there you go, much better. And Mr. Corner, you must keep both hands on the handle. I don’t want anybody falling off.”   
Matthew Corner, the boy who had shared a boat with Rose and her cousins the first night and who was also in Ravenclaw, turned red and hastily adjusted.   
“Good,” Mr. Wood called, swiveling his head and nodding approvingly. “Now, whenever you’re ready, don’t rush, bend down a bit and kick off, like this.” He pushed off the ground and rose in the air a few feet, hovering for a moment and grinning before tilting the handle and returning his feet to the grass. “Whenever you’re ready.”   
Rose gripped the Cleansweep’s handle and kicked off, feeling the ground drop out from under her feet as she flew into the air. With a smile, Rose tilted the broom’s handle and turned so as to face her classmates, many of whom remained on the ground. A movement to her right caught Rose’s attention and she turned to see Scorpius Malfoy, gliding easily through the air on a Comet 220.   
“Rosie, look, I did it!” Lucy’s voice called from below. Rose looked down and saw her cousin hovering three feet off the ground. Lucy’s eyes were wide as she looked down and Rose saw her hands begin to quake, the knuckles white from gripping the handle so tightly. But Lucy smiled proudly, tilting the handle cautiously upwards and crawling through the air towards Rose.   
“You did it, Luce!” Rose cried, flying easily towards her cousin. “See, and you thought you’d be terrible.”  
“I’m not sure if I like it,” Lucy said, her voice shaking slightly as her gaze dropped again to the ground. “But I did it.”   
“We can go back down if you’d like,” Rose said. She would have preferred to stay in the air a bit longer, but Lucy’s smile was slowly disintegrating into a look of unbridled terror the longer she stayed on the broom.   
“Yes, that would be good,” Lucy said, looking relieved.   
Rose pointed her broom handle towards the ground and slowly descended. “Luce?” she asked, wondering why her cousin was no longer beside her. “Are you—Lucy!” She shrieked when she saw Lucy, shaking with fright, her broom jerking uncontrollably through the air as she tried to descend.   
Rose yanked her Cleansweep’s handle up, rising back in the air as she watched Lucy thrash on her broom. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Scorpius Malfoy flying towards her and below, Mr. Wood mounting his own broom and kicking off, flying straight towards the girls. Both he and Rose cried out as Lucy’s broom jerked again and Lucy she lost her grip on the handle, hurtling towards the ground and landing with a sickening crunch.   
“Lucy!” Rose shrieked again, landing roughly on the ground and running to her cousin, who lay in a heap. Around them, the other students congregated, forming a spectator circle. Rose ignored them and leaned towards her cousin, whispering, “Luce, are you okay?”   
Lucy groaned, her face white as she tried to sit up.   
Mr. Wood appeared and bent over Lucy, putting a hand behind her head and gently helping her into a sitting position. “Where does it hurt?” he asked kindly, prodding along her collarbone and shoulder.   
“My ankle,” Lucy whispered, tears streaming down her face. Rose leaned down and swept a piece of hair away from Lucy’s face.   
“Rose, will you help?” Mr. Wood asked. Rose nodded and placed her hand behind Lucy’s head, holding her up while Mr. Wood prodded along Lucy’s ankle, stopping when she screeched in pain.   
“It looks like it’s fractured,” he muttered. “You’ll need the hospital wing.”   
“I’ll take her,” Rose said quickly.   
“No, someone else will have to,” Mr. Wood said. When Rose opened her mouth to argue he held up a hand, “Not that I don’t admire your willingness to help your cousin, Miss Weasley, but if her ankle is broken I doubt she’ll be able to walk, and I don’t know if you’re able to carry her there.”  
“I’ll take her,” another voice broke in. Rose looked up in astonishment to find Scorpius Malfoy step forward from the circle, his hands in his pockets. Behind him, several students raised their eyebrows. Rose felt her own travel further up her forehead in surprise.   
“Excellent,” Mr. Wood said. “Thank you, Mr. Malfoy. Miss Weasley, do you think you can stand?”   
Lucy paused for a moment and then nodded. With Rose supporting her on one side and Mr. Wood on the other she rose shakily, inhaling sharply when she put weight on her right leg.   
Scorpius stepped forward and gently put one arm under Lucy’s knees and the other around her shoulders, picking her up bridal style.   
“Are you sure you can carry her all the way to the hospital wing?” Rose asked, eyeing Scorpius warily. He was taller than she was, but skinny, and really didn’t look like he was much more capable of carrying Lucy than she was.   
“I’ll be fine,” Scorpius said quietly. He looked at Mr. Wood, who nodded, and then turned and began walking towards the castle.   
“I think that’s enough for today,” Mr. Wood said, turning to the rest of the students. “Everybody pick up your broom and follow me to the broomshed. We can talk about broom care.” 

Lucy returned from the hospital wing that evening in time for dinner and Rose passed the meal helping field questions from their cousins.   
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Molly asked for the third time, cutting Lucy’s chicken for her. “If you don’t feel perfectly well you should really go back to the hospital wing and have Madam Pomfrey look at it again just in case—“   
“Molly I’m fine,” Lucy grumbled, taking her fork from her sister and glaring irritably at her plate. “She fixed my ankle in about five minutes.”   
“Well, I just want to be sure—“   
“Mols, let her eat,” Victoire said from across the table, smiling sympathetically at Lucy. “It’s been a long day for her.”   
“And everyone’s been asking how I am,” Lucy muttered. “It’s like I fell off the astronomy tower instead of a broomstick.”   
“They just want to be sure you’re alright,” Dominique said, patting Lucy on the shoulder.   
“You didn’t look too great when Scorpius carried you off the pitch,” Rose added. “Your face was all white and your hair was everywhere and your foot was hanging at a funny angle—“   
“Scorpius Malfoy carried you to the hospital wing?” Victoire asked, raising her pale eyebrows in surprise.   
Lucy flushed and kept her eyes on her plate. “Yes,” she said quietly. “I couldn’t walk by myself.”   
Rose held in her laughter for the sake of Lucy’s embarrassment, but she caught Vic’s eye and saw a glint of humor in it as her cousin smirked and took a sip of pumpkin juice.   
No more was said about Lucy’s accident or Scorpius Malfoy for the rest of dinner, as Lucy’s mood became increasingly sour as classmates and cousins came up to ask how she was and what had happened.   
By the time they entered the Ravenclaw common room, Lucy’s face was nearly white again and the corners of her mouth hung down in a deep frown.   
“You should go to bed,” Dom said, taking Lucy’s hand and leading her gently to the spiral staircase. “You’ve had a long day.”   
“Rosie, are you coming?” Lucy asked.   
“Not yet,” Rose shook her head, dropping down into an armchair and taking out a piece of parchment. “I want to write to my mum and dad and then I’ll be up.”   
Lucy nodded and said goodnight as she and Dom disappeared up the spiral staircases.   
Rose found a quill and dipped it in ink, scrawling out the usual first few lines of her letters home: she was doing well, although she missed them; classes were going well although she hated potions and thought it was stupid; everyone else was doing well and said hello. She then relayed the events of the day, describing Lucy’s accident and broken ankle while also commenting on the antiquity of the school’s brooms.   
She had just finished her rant against the ban on first years bringing brooms when out of the corner of her eye she saw a flash of white blond hair and looked up to see Scorpius Malfoy settling into a chair near the fireplace, his herbology book open in his lap.   
After a moment’s debate, Rose sighed and pushed her parchment to the side before standing and walking towards the boy.   
He didn’t look up as she approached, which unnerved her. Strangely jittery, Rose pushed a piece of hair behind her ear and said, “Er, Scorpius?”   
His silver eyes lifted from the book and landed on her, surprise and apprehension evident.   
“I just wanted to say thank you for taking Lucy to the hospital,” Rose said quickly, feeling her face heat up. Why didn’t he say something, or smile, or react like a normal person? “It—it was a nice thing to do.”   
He blinked at her and still didn’t say anything. Rose bit her lip to keep from adding that usually when a person said thank you the polite thing to do was to say you’re welcome.   
Scorpius’ face had gone slightly pink and he looked at his hands, seemingly unable to decide how to respond.   
His apathy annoyed Rose and she clamped her jaw shut to avoid saying something rude. “Well, that’s all,” she said huffily, turning on her heel and preparing to march away, thoroughly irritated by his lack of response and lack of interest in Lucy’s well-being.   
“It was no problem,” Scorpius murmured softly. “I’m glad she wasn’t hurt too badly.”   
Rose paused, her irritation still brimming just below the surface. She considered turning around, but decided against it. She sat back down in her armchair and pulled her letter towards her, scribbling a paragraph on how Scorpius Malfoy was annoyingly quiet and altogether a bit aggravating. 

~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~

October flew by, and although she still sat mostly with Lucy in classes and spent her meals and free time with her cousins, Rose found herself making new friends at Hogwarts. Maren Thomas and Allie Boot were both funny and smart and occasionally accompanied the Weasley girls to the library to do homework. It came out that Maren supported the Wimbourne Wasps and she and Rose, who was a devoted Chudley Cannons fan, engaged in a raging debate over which team was better. After nearly an hour of disagreement and one torn poster, they decided to simply agree to disagree and both were careful not to bring up their professional allegiances again in conversation, though they still discussed quidditch often.  
“Are you going to try out for the house team next year?” Maren asked over her transfiguration essay one afternoon in the library.   
“I want to,” Rose said, grinning at the mental image of herself in blue Ravenclaw quidditch robes, making save after spectacular save. “My cousin Dom is the captain and seeker and she promised to practice with me this year so I’ll have a better chance of making it.”   
“You’re so lucky,” Maren sighed. “I wish I had a cousin to practice with.”   
“You can come flying with us,” Rose said, her face lighting up. “It gets dull playing with the same people all the time.”  
When Rose told Dom about Maren, Dom grinned and said she would be glad to have some fresh talent to train. She ruffled Rose’s hair affectionately, murmuring, “I wish first years could try out. You’d have a good shot of making the team; you’re far better than most of the people who came out this year.”   
Rose relayed those words to Lucy in herbology, puffing her chest out with pride and saying loudly, “And she said after seeing me play this summer she thinks I could be even better than the Ravenclaw keeper right now. Remember on Uncle Harry’s birthday when Aunt Ginny only got two out of five shots past me? And she played professionally.”   
Lucy murmured in agreement without looking up from the Tibetan Turnips they were supposed to be repotting. A few seats away, Scorpius Malfoy rolled his eyes. Rose scowled at him and turned back to the plants in front of her. She hadn’t talked to Scorpius since she had thanked him for helping Lucy to the hospital wing. He made no effort to talk to her either, for the most part sticking with his cousin Tommy and not talking much to anyone. Tommy, it turned out, was fairly talkative and often times would engage Rose and Lucy in conversation in class or else sit with them in the common room.   
“Er, Rose?” someone behind her squeaked. She turned to find a very red-faced Matthew Corner shrinking behind her, holding up his Tibetan Turnip, which was half out of its pot. “C-could you help m-me?” he stuttered, looking wildly around the room and avoiding eye contact.   
Rose stifled a smile. It had become apparent within the first few weeks of school that of all the boys, Matthew Corner was the worst when it came to talking to girls. His face flamed up so quickly it rivaled even the famous Weasley flush, and his stutter became almost debilitating.   
“Sure,” she said, pushing her own pots aside so Matthew could set his down. “It’s pretty easy, you just have to hold the leaves back while putting in the fertilizer.”   
“Th-thank you,” Matthew stammered, leaning forward to watch Rose work. “You—you know, I think you’re the s-smartest g-girl in our year.”   
Rose snorted, but couldn’t hide the pleased grin which spread over her face. “Well, thank you, I suppose,” she said airily, patting the soil down with her palm and handing the pot back to Matthew.   
He took it and scuttled away. Rose went back to her own work, beaming. 

~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~

October melted into November. The Halloween feast was just as grand as everyone had promised, though Rose was annoyed through most of it because her older cousins had spent the day in Hogsmeade without her. She cheered up considerably, though, when Fred promised that in two years, on her first Hogsmeade trip he would take her to the Three Broomsticks and buy her a butterbeer.   
November at Hogwarts brought with it chilly winds and a promise of winter. The common room was packed nearly every night with students crowding around the fire. One such night found Rose sitting with the other first years, doing their history of magic homework.   
“What year was the Wizengamot established?” Allie Boot asked, chewing on the end of her quill and leafing through the textbook.   
“1146,” Lucy said, scribbling away on a roll of parchment with a harried look on her face. She straightened up and rubbed her eyes, yawning. “Rose, can’t we just owl your mum and ask her all this? It would save us loads of time.”   
“I already tried,” Rose said sullenly, flipping a page in A History of Magic. “She wouldn’t tell me anything, said I have to learn to do my own work.”   
“Does your mum know a lot about the Wizengamot?” Maren asked.   
“My mum’s on the Wizengamot,” Rose said, glancing up and grinning proudly.   
“R-really?” Matthew Corner asked, his ears going red when the girls looked at him. “D-does she—I mean—i-is she—“   
“She’s was on it for those big trials last year,” Rose said, gaining confidence from the interest the others were showing. Only Scorpius and Tommy were still focused on their work. The rest of the first years watched her intently.   
“Blimey,” Allie said. “The ones where those two old death eaters got off?”   
“Yes,” Rose nodded, swelling with pride over her mother’s work. “She had to go into work every single day for three weeks, she said it was a nightmare.”   
“Did she really think they were innocent?” Maren asked quietly, looking around the room surreptitiously as though afraid someone might overhear.  
Rose shrugged. Her mother refused to go into specifics regarding the case in front of Rose and Hugo, so her position and opinions on the defendants were as much a mystery to Rose as everyone else. “I dunno,” she said loftily, tossing her hair over her shoulder. “She didn’t talk about it much. But I know that if it were up to me every single death eater from the war would be in Azkaban until they died.”   
Scorpius’ head snapped up at this and Rose started.   
“That’s some of my family, you know,” he bit out harshly, his hair falling into his eyes. His silver eyes narrowed as he glowered at her. There was a faint snap and Rose looked down to see his fist clenched around a broken quill.   
Rose flushed as she remembered that Scorpius’ own father had been a death eater in the war. She swallowed heavily as he glared at her.   
The group went quiet for a moment. Everyone’s eyes were on Scorpius, who up until now had never spoken of his family’s role in the war.   
“You think my family deserves to rot in Azkaban?” he asked, his eyes flashing dangerously.   
“Er,” Rose faltered, looking around to Lucy for support. To her chagrin, her cousin had turned resolutely back to her homework, refusing to look up. “Well,” Rose began, feeling her face burn as Scorpius continued to glower at her. “I—it’s not my fault your family were death eaters!”  
Scorpius stiffened, his jaw snapping shut. “Well then,” he said coldly, snatching up his books and throwing them unceremoniously in his bag, “I won’t make you sit with me anymore, then.” He slung his bag over his shoulder and stalked out of the common room, not even deigning to look back. Rose stared after him with her mouth hanging open. She turned back to see the others watching her apprehensively.   
“Rose,” Lucy sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose like Uncle Percy did sometimes at family parties. “How could you say that?”   
“I didn’t mean to insult him!” she cried defensively, looking around the group for help. “I just—obviously I don’t want his family to go to Azkaban, but really it’s not my fault that they were—“   
“It’s not his fault either,” Tommy said quietly, looking at Rose uneasily. “He didn’t ask—“   
“I know he didn’t,” Rose snapped. She ground her teeth and leaned forward, snatching up a piece of parchment she had been writing on and glancing over it quickly. She picked up a quill and made to continue her notes on the formation of the Wizengamot, but her quill stayed suspended over her parchment for several minutes.   
Unable to concentrate with the image of Scorpius storming out of the common room burned into her mind, Rose threw her quill down in frustration and packed up her things.   
“I’m going to bed,” she muttered before hurrying up the spiral staircase to her dormitory, not bothering to say goodnight. Once upstairs she threw her bag on the floor and flopped on her bed. Shame coursed through her. Why had she said that? The anger on Scorpius’ face made her stomach twist. With resignation Rose realized what she would have to do and buried her face in her pillow. Life would have been much easier if Scorpius Malfoy just gone and been sorted into Slytherin like he was supposed to. 

Rose walked into transfiguration the next morning keeping a sharp eye out for Scorpius. She hadn’t seen him at breakfast and she had a sneaking suspicion he was avoiding her. She dropped into her seat beside Lucy and took out her book and a quill, glancing at the door every few seconds.   
Scorpius and Tommy slunk in seconds before Lyncroft started the lesson, leaving no time for Rose to get up and talk to them. She only half paid attention to the lecture and fell far below her usual standards during the practical, only managing to turn three of her six buttons into thimbles.   
The bell rang and Rose hurriedly grabbed her bag and ran out of the room, leaving Lucy behind. She stood outside the doorway and waited, twisting a piece of hair around her finger nervously. When Scorpius exited, she caught his arm gently and moved to walk next to him.   
“What do you want?” he asked, wrenching his arm from her grip and glaring at her.   
“I—“ Rose felt her face flush and she looked at the ground. “I wanted to apologize. For what I said last night. I didn’t mean—“   
“I don’t care,” Scorpius snapped, picking up his pace so she had to run to keep up with him.   
“Wait!” Rose cried, panting slightly as she took hold of his sleeve again.  
Scorpius stopped and whipped around, his silver eyes blazing as they had been last night. He fixed Rose with a scowl and jerked his arm away from her. “Go away, Weasley,” he hissed. “I don’t want to talk to you.”   
Rose stared at him, taken aback by his aggression. She had never seen Scorpius so much as raise his voice at anyone before last night.   
“I—“ she started again.  
With a snarl Scorpius turned away from her and half jogged down the corridor, weaving through the crowd of students so it was nearly impossible to follow him.   
Rose sighed and her shoulders sagged.   
“Rosie?” someone put a hand on her back and she turned to see Albus frowning at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked.   
“Scorpius Malfoy hates me,” she said, sighing heavily.   
Albus raised an eyebrow and eyed at her warily. “What did you do?” he asked tentatively, looking as though he were unsure whether or not he wanted to hear the answer.   
“I—er—mentioned something about death eaters last night,” Rose muttered, her face growing red again. “And I forgot about—you know—but I tried to apologize!” she cried, seeing Al’s frown. “I said sorry and he just walked away!”   
Al sighed and ruffled his hair. “Why’d you say something like that?” he said finally, his green eyes piercing through her. “Why?”   
“I don’t know,” Rose said, scuffing her feet. “It just—slipped out.”   
“Right,” Albus said, rolling his eyes. “Of course.”   
The corridor was nearly empty. Rose watched as Al checked his watch, wondering if he was going to yell at her.   
“We’d better get going,” he said, shaking his head and beginning to walk. “I have charms next.”   
Rose bit her lip and followed her cousin, walking with him until they reached the history of magic classroom. She ducked in and quickly took her seat next to Lucy, who gave her an odd look but didn’t say anything. With a sigh, Rose remembered it was her turn to take notes. She retrieved a sheet of parchment from her bag as Professor Binns’ droning voice started in on famous trials of the Dark Ages. Halfway through the lecture Rose glanced over at Scorpius, who sat three seats down from her.   
He was hunched over his desk, taking notes as Binns spoke. His writing was neat and his notes looked organized; there were nothing crossed out or written in the margins, and it was devoid of the doodles that decorated all of Rose’s notes. She watched him for a few minutes, noticing the crease that formed between his eyebrows and how he wrote with his pinkie finger raised so it didn’t smudge the ink. He looked up after a minute and glanced around the room. When he caught her eye Rose gave a small smile, hoping to show that she really wanted to make peace. Scorpius scowled and turned back to his notes.   
Rose sighed. Making peace with Scorpius Malfoy did not seem to be in the cards. 

~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~RRT~

The month before Christmas holidays passed by in a blur. Scorpius had taken to completely ignoring Rose, which really wasn’t all that different from how he had treated her before. Rose, in turn, pretended Scorpius didn’t exist and carried on the same way she always had.   
She and Lucy spent many hours in the library with Al, who often brought Nathan Nott with him. The four of them managed to enjoy their time studying, and they discovered that Nathan had a knack for impressions. He kept them in stitches with his imitation of Professor Flitwick and Professor Lyncroft. Once or twice Rose looked up and find Nathan looking at her oddly, or Albus frowning at her, but she shrugged these moments off, choosing not to think about them.   
Exams came and went and before she knew it Rose found herself on the Hogwarts Express heading back to Kings Cross. She sat on Fred’s lap, as the Weasley compartment was just as full as it had been in September.   
Dom and Molly grilled Victoire about her relationship with Teddy, which had grown more serious over the past few months. They now wrote to each other nearly every day and, according to Dom, he had coincidentally been in Hogsmeade on the exact days of the last two village trips.   
James, Fred, Rose and Roxanne were all playing a game of exploding snap, though they were squashed so close together they could see each other’s cards and it was less a competitive game than an excuse to laugh as eyebrows and sleeves were singed.   
“So, you three, how was your first term?” Dom asked Rose, Albus and Molly after Vic forced James to put the cards away.   
“Lovely except for the broken ankle,” Lucy said, grimacing at the memory of her flying injury. “And you know Dad is going to make me practice with Aunt Ginny over the holidays. Says we need to be on the safe side.”   
“She won’t make you do too much,” Rose said. “When she taught me how to fly we just went around the backyard a few times and then she let me ride on the back of her broom while she did loops.”   
“But it’ll be cold,” Lucy pouted, crossing her arms. “I don’t want to fly in the cold.”  
They all laughed and Molly ruffled her sister’s hair, saying, “I think you’ll survive.”   
“How about you two, Al, Rose?” Dom asked. “Al, how’s life as a Slytherin?”   
“Not too bad,” Albus answered, turning a bit pink. “It’s rather exciting being the only cousin in there. And I’ve seen the giant squid twice through the window in the common room!”   
“You know, I think I read somewhere that every couple years the squid will get really angry and break the glass,” James said thoughtfully, running a hand through his hair. “You might want to look into that.”   
“I’m not falling for that,” Al scoffed, though his eyes widened slightly. “You know it’s enchanted glass.”  
“But it’s also a magical squid,” James said, cocking an eyebrow. “And remember that time a bludger got through the magically reinforced glass at Grandma’s?”   
Albus’ face paled and he gaped at his brother. “It—it’s not—“ he sputtered, his eyes growing frantic. “They wouldn’t let—“   
“You never know,” James said, leaning towards his younger brother. “I mean, you’ve heard Dad’s stories about everything that happened when he was at Hogwarts.”   
“James, hush, before Al wets himself,” Vic said, reaching over to pat Albus on the shoulder. “The squid’s not going to break through the glass,” she added firmly.   
“Are you sure?” Albus asked.   
“Yes,” Victoire said, glaring at James. “Your brother’s just a prat.”   
Albus relaxed and Rose couldn’t help the giggle that escaped. She leaned back against Fred and listened to James vehemently insist he was not, in fact, a prat.   
They arrived at King’s Cross around dinner time. Fred carried Rose’s trunk off the train for her and she carried the cage holding his owl Goliath.   
When they stepped onto the platform Fred turned to her and smiled, leaning down to nudge her shoulder. “We never got to hear from you, Rosie,” he said. “How was your first term at Hogwarts?”   
“It was good,” Rose answered, spotting her parents waiting near the barrier with Hugo and the Potters. “But I’m glad to be home for a bit.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's chapter two, please let me know what you think!


	3. Rose of the Burrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last half of first year holds many adventures and surprises for Rose

Christmas at the Burrow was Rose’s favorite time of year. The entire family, all twenty-six of them, stayed at Grandma Molly’s for a week and a half of baking, storytelling and merriment. This year, after being away from her parents and brother for months, Rose was even more excited than usual.   
Her dad had hardly parked the car when Rose tumbled out, not even bothering to take her trunk, and burst through the door into the front hall. She stood still for a second, taking in all the familiar sounds and smells of home. She could hear Grandma Molly’s voice streaming from the kitchen, issuing instructions and reprimanding one of her children or grandchildren. The scent of delicious food wafted through the halls and the sound of nearing footsteps echoed from the stairs.   
“Rosie!” Teddy Lupin cried, hurrying down the steps and engulfing her in a hug. His brown eyes crinkled around the edges as he smiled and his electric blue hair tickled Rose’s forehead. “I was wondering when you lot would get here. How’re you liking Hogwarts? Your dad told me you’re a Ravenclaw!”   
“I like it,” Rose giggled, smiling at her pseudo-cousin. Teddy had left Hogwarts two years ago, a fact Rose bitterly regretted; she would have loved to go to school with him. In fact, she had begged him to fail all his classes and stay on until she got there, to which Teddy had simply laughed and said the head boy couldn’t fail all his classes and, either way, going to school with Fred and James for a year was more than enough.   
“Staying out of trouble?” he asked, ruffling her hair and grinning mischievously. “You’re not letting James and Fred rope you into helping with their pranks, are you?”   
“No,” Rose assured him. “I think Dad threatened to hex them if they got me in trouble.”   
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Teddy chuckled.   
A shriek resounded from down the hallway and Teddy looked over his shoulder in confusion. “Come on,” he said, taking Rose by the arm and leading her into the kitchen, where the chatter was coming from. There they found Grandma Molly, Aunt Angelina, and Victoire all standing by the counter and all covered in flour, staring around perplexedly.   
“What happened here?” Teddy asked, raising an eyebrow as he released Rose and put an arm around Victoire, leaning down to kiss her hair.   
“The flour sack exploded,” Victoire said wryly, gesturing to the floor where, sure enough, a decimated flour sack lay. “We don’t know how.”   
Teddy looked as though he was fighting to keep a straight face, with the corners of his mouth quirking up. He managed to subdue a smile as he glanced at the flour sack, and then at the three women coated in its contents. “That’s, ah,” he paused, biting his lip, “unfortunate.”   
A peal of laughter echoed from the hallway and Rose saw Aunt Angelina stiffen, her eyes narrowing as she inclined her head towards the door.   
“Hold on,” Aunt Angelina said, putting a finger to her lips and gliding silently across the floor. Teddy and Victoire exchanged looks and nobody spoke while Aunt Angelina made her way to the door. She slowly wrapped her hand around the doorknob before wrenching it open to reveal James and Fred standing in the hallway, doubled over with laughter.   
“H-hi, Mum,” Fred choked out, attempting to straighten but shaking with renewed laughter at the sight of his mother, covered in flour and glaring at him.   
“Frederick Johnson Weasley!” Aunt Angelina screeched, reaching out and grabbing both boys by their shirts, hauling them into the kitchen.   
Teddy had abandoned his attempts to keep a straight face and was grinning widely now, catching James’ eye and winking as Aunt Angelina deposited her son and nephew in front of the flour mess and put her hands on her hips.   
“Boys!” Grandma Molly said, mimicking Aunt Angelina’s stance and narrowing her eyes. “What did you do?”   
“Er,” Fred and James hesitated, both cowering under their grandmother’s fierce glare. “Well, you see,” James began, but then closed his mouth.   
“Did you or did you not,” Grandma Molly said dangerously, approaching the boys slowly, “charm that flour sack so it would explode all over your poor cousin and Fred’s mum.”  
“Well,” Fred started, but Aunt Angelina cut him off.   
“The two of you are going to clean this up,” she said firmly, glaring at the boys. “Without magic. So I suggest you get started if you don’t want the whole family angry with you for postponing dinner.”   
“Yes mum,” Fred said, trying to look abashed but unable to contain his grin. He caught Rose’s eye and winked.   
“We’re sorry we covered you and Vic in flour,” James added, failing just as miserably as Fred at controlling his mirth.   
“Just clean this up, boys,” Aunt Angelina said, her own lips starting to curl into a smile. She picked up her wand from the counter and swept out of the kitchen in a cloud of flour. Rose followed and heard Teddy and Vic behind her.   
“I almost forgot to say hello, Rosie,” Aunt Angelina said when they reached the front hall, turning and giving Rose a messy hug. “How’s your first year going?”   
“It’s good,” Rose answered, giggling, watching as Teddy and Vic walked to the living room whispering to each other. “Though I kind of wish I was in Gryffindor with Fred and Roxie.”   
“It’s probably for the better that you’re not,” Aunt Angelina said, glancing back towards the kitchen from where renewed peals of laughter could be heard. “It’s bad enough having those boys in there together, Merlin knows what you lot would get up to if you were all in the same house.”   
Rose laughed and Aunt Angelina excused herself to go wash up before she tracked flour all over the house. When she had gone, Rose’s dad walked through the door, carrying her trunk and her mum’s travel bag, whistling God Bless Ye Merry Hippogriff. He set the luggage down in the hall and took out his wand, levitating it up the stairs. They heard it land with a resounding thump and Rose smiled as her dad pulled her in for a hug.   
“Welcome home, sweetheart,” he said, tugging at her hair. “We missed you.”   
“I missed you too,” Rose murmured, leaning her head against him.   
“Do you reckon you’re up for a game of chess later?” he asked. “I haven’t had a good match since you left and I think if I try to play against your mum one more time she’s might hex me.”   
Rose giggled. “Of course I’ll play with you, Daddy,” she said. “I haven’t had a good match either. Lucy doesn’t like chess and Vic and Dom are both dreadful.”   
“Well, we’ll have a good game together then,” Ron replied, squeezing his daughter one last time before releasing her. “And I won’t let you win like I did last time.”   
“Hey!” Rose cried, scowling as her dad laughed. “You didn’t let me win, I won fair and square; you even said it!”  
“Alright, alright,” Ron conceded, nudging her towards the living room. “So you did beat me fair and square. But tonight I’m not going easy on you. No matter how happy I am to have you back.”   
“Good,” Rose said, smirking at her father and tossing her hair. “It won’t be any fun beating you if you’re going easy on me.”   
Her dad laughed and ruffled her hair as they walked to the living room, where they were greeted by a dozen family members. As Rose wandered around and hugged everyone, she couldn’t help the grin spreading across her face. Hogwarts was wonderful, but there was nothing better than being at the Burrow with her family.   
James and Fred managed to get the flour cleaned up quickly (Rose suspected they cajoled Teddy into taking pity on them and performing the cleaning charm) and so dinner was served at the usual hour. Grandma Molly’s cooking was superb, as usual, even better than the Hogwarts feast. Rose dug into her roast beef and mashed potatoes eagerly, ignoring the raised eyebrows she received from her mother.   
“Rose, darling, please tell me you don’t eat like that at school,” Hermione said disapprovingly.   
“I ‘on’t,” Rose choked out, hurrying to swallow.   
“Yes she does,” Lucy said, glancing disdainfully at Rose. “I’ve tried to tell her—“   
Rose elbowed her cousin in the ribs and glared at her.   
Hermione sighed, spearing a piece of broccoli and giving Rose an exasperated look. “You’re so like your father sometimes,” she muttered.   
“Oy!” Ron exclaimed, looking up from his plate. “You say that like it’s a bad thing!”   
Hermione shook her head and took a bite of food, rolling her eyes.   
“Al, what’s it like to be in Slytherin?” Teddy asked from across the table, turning away from Victoire and looking at Albus, who was seated next to Rose, with interest. “I don’t know much about them. We haven’t had any family in there yet, I don’t even really know where the common room is.”   
Albus sat up straighter and opened his mouth to reply, but beside him James snorted and said, “That’s ‘cause no decent people are in Slytherin. I dunno what the sorting hat was thinking putting Al in there.”   
“James,” Aunt Ginny said warningly, giving her eldest son a pointed look.   
Albus deflated, his shoulders slumping as he dropped his eyes to his plate and started pushing his potatoes around. Rose frowned at James and put a comforting hand on Al’s forearm.   
“I’m just saying!” James said defensively, waving his fork around. “Isn’t it true that nearly every dark wizard in history has come from—“   
“James Sirius!” Uncle Harry snapped, silencing all chatter around the table as he stared angrily at his son. “I don’t want to hear another word. All four houses have their good points, and personally, I think it’s great that Al is in Slytherin. And anyways, now our family has been represented in every house at Hogwarts, which is rather impressive.”   
“We haven’t had a Hufflepuff,” Roxanne pointed out.   
“Teddy was in Hufflepuff,” Aunt Ginny said, nodding towards her husband’s godson.   
“Teddy’s not technically family though,” Fred said. “No offense, mate,” he added quickly, turning apologetically towards Teddy, who shrugged unaffectedly.   
“He’s here, so he’s family,” Uncle Harry said firmly, his stony face discouraging any more discussion on the subject.   
Nobody spoke for a moment, and then Grandpa Arthur called down the table to Rose’s mum, “Hermione, will your parents be joining us on Christmas Eve? I have a few new questions for them about muggle Christmas lights—“   
The babble broke out again around the table as everyone relaxed and began chatting again. Rose took her hand off Albus’ forearm and patted his shoulder. He didn’t look up from his plate.   
“Don’t listen to James,” Rose said quietly, leaning closer so no one else could hear. “No one cares that you’re in Slytherin.”   
“Are you sure?” Albus whispered, raising his green eyes to meet her blue ones. “He wasn’t wrong, you know, about the evil wizards.”   
“Albus, you’re not evil,” Rose said, giving him a small smile and squeezing his arm. She felt extremely guilty now for the harsh words she had said about Slytherin house over the last few years. The look on Albus’ face just then made her wish she was in there with him just so he wouldn’t have to endure the comments alone. “It just wasn’t what everyone was expecting,” she said gently. “But then you never do what’s expected.”   
“That is true,” Al said with a shadow of a smile. He cut off a bit of roast beef and raised his fork up. “Thanks, Rosie,” he whispered.   
“You’re welcome, Al,” she responded. 

After dinner Rose found Hugo and dragged him upstairs to the room her parents shared with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny. Inside, her mother sat on the bed, waiting for them to arrive, a familiar, tattered book lying in her lap.   
“Are you ready, loves?” Hermione asked, sliding over so her children could join her on the bed. Rose climbed up and sat beside her mother, curling into her side while Hugo plopped himself down on her lap.   
It was five days before Christmas, which meant it was story time. Hermione held up the battered copy of A Christmas Carol and smiled.  
“You know I first read this book aloud for Christmas when Rosie was only a year old,” she said wistfully, smiling down at her children. “And now this is my tenth year reading it and I still feel like it’s the first time.”   
“That means I wasn’t there for the first time!” Hugo exclaimed, sticking his lip out at the realization.   
“You weren’t,” Hermione laughed, wrapping her arms around her son. “But you were there for the second, and that’s just as special.”   
“Can I read the first part?” Rose asked, sitting up and looking hopefully at her mother with wide eyes. “Please, mum? Just the first stave?”   
“Alright,” Hermione conceded, handing the book over. “I suppose it will be nice to save my voice a bit.”   
Rose grinned and took the book, folding her legs under her as she cleared her throat. “Are you ready?” she asked. Her mum and brother both nodded, and Rose opened to the first page and began reading the words which she had almost memorized, “Marley was dead to begin with. There was no doubt about that—“ 

The holidays passed in a flurry of activity. Every day was packed from start to finish with activities and catching up with family members. Rose spent half an hour one morning ranting about the awfulness of potions, to which her dad told her not to worry, because potions was quite useless and he and Uncle Harry weren’t much good at it in school either and look what they had managed to do. At that her mum had smacked him, telling Rose she would get the hang of it with time, and that some things just required practice.   
To Rose’s delight she was able to spend the majority of her time with Fred and Albus. She had missed both boys dearly, especially Albus. To be sure, she still saw him every day at school at meals and in classes, but there was a difference between exchanging a few brief words in potions and spending endless hours together, as they had before going to school.   
“I’ve missed you,” Rose said one day when they were sitting cross-legged on the attic floor, playing exploding snap and munching on gingerbread. “I hardly ever see you now.”   
“We spent all yesterday together,” he said, raising his eyebrows. “What do you mean you never see me?”   
“I meant at school, you prat,” Rose laughed, throwing a hunk of gingerbread at him, which Albus tried to catch in his mouth.   
“You could always come to the library with me and Nathan,” he said, rubbing the spot on his nose where the gingerbread had bounced off. “We go there nearly every evening to do homework.”   
“Would he mind?” Rose asked, perking up at the prospect of spending evenings with her cousin.   
“Nah,” Albus grinned. “He’d probably think it’d be fun. And bring Lucy too, I never see her anymore.”   
“She’d like that,” Rose said, eating the last few crumbs of her gingerbread. She leaned forward and snatched the exploding snap deck from the floor, dealing out cards. “Alright, Potter,” she chanted, looking him in the eye and giving her best competitive glare. “Time for the high stakes round. Loser has to help Uncle Percy reorganize his desk tomorrow.” 

Christmas day dawned bright and clear that year. Rose awoke to her cousin Lily shaking her excitedly, shouting about presents.   
“Whasgoingon?” Rose mumbled, rolling over and burying her face in her pillow.   
“Presents!” Lily cried, jumping off the bed she and Rose shared and onto Lucy’s. “Wake up, wake up, we have to open presents!”   
“Lily,” Lucy murmured sleepily, “go back to sleep.”   
“Lucy, it’s Christmas,” Lily whined, sitting close to her cousin and poking her repeatedly in the side. “Wake up!”   
“Fine,” Lucy grumbled, sitting up and blinking as she looked around the room.   
Rose stayed in bed, burrowing deeper into her blankets.   
“Rosie, come on!” Lily cried, returning to Rose’s side and tugging at her arm. “Get up!”   
“Start without me,” Rose groaned into her pillow.  
“No,” Lily said, glaring at Rose in a way that made her look extraordinarily like Aunt Ginny. “We all open our presents together.”   
“Merlin, fine, alright,” Rose muttered, getting up slowly and stretching. Her eyes went immediately to the large pile of gifts at the foot of the bed. Moving much quicker now, Rose stood up and pulled on her dressing gown, attempting to tie back her hair, which was always especially wild in the morning.   
The three girls sat on the floor and dug into their piles. Rose’s face broke into a smile as she opened her gifts. Among them were a new Chudley Cannons poster from Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny, a copy of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory from Teddy, a charm bracelet from Fred, a small bottle of perfume from Lucy, and a pretty leather-bound notebook and fancy quill from her parents.   
Lucy and Lily squealed and smiled too as they opened their gifts. Rose glanced up and caught sight of Lucy’s broad grin when she opened Rose’s present: a bottle of Mrs. Flutterby’s Magical No-Static, No-Frizz, No-Flyaway No-Worry Hair Potion.   
“Good haul this year?” Rose asked, eyeing her cousins’ piles.  
“Excellent,” Lucy said, ripping open a package of chocolate frogs. “Although Roxie thought it would be funny to get me a copy of Flying for Dummies.”   
Rose laughed and reached over to examine the book. It had a yellow cover and the table of contents on the first page read:   
Chapter 1: Determining Which Brooms Are For Riding and Which Are For Sweeping  
Chapter 2: Carrying a Broom Without Incurring Injury  
Chapter 3: Proper Form and Positioning When Sitting on a Broom  
Chapter 4: A Comprehensive List of Things Not To Do While Airborne   
“That’s brilliant,” Rose chuckled, tossing the book back to Lucy. “Really, I almost want a copy.”   
Lucy rolled her eyes and threw the book back on her pile of gifts. “How about you, Lil?” she asked, turning to their younger cousin who had somehow already managed to make her way through half a box of chocolate cauldrons. “What’d you get?”   
Lily swallowed her bite and grabbed a few items from her pile. “Look!” she cried, holding up a Holyhead Harpies poster and a new set of quidditch balls. “And Dad said when James gets a new broom I can use his Nimbus,” she said happily.   
“You’re just as crazy about quidditch as Aunt Ginny,” Lucy muttered, shaking her head.   
“You’re just mad you fell off your broom,” Lily retorted, sticking her tongue out.   
Lucy flushed, but didn’t look angry as she snatched Flying for Dummies and swatted Lily with it. “Watch it,” she warned. “Or next time I go flying I’ll tell your mum I need you on the broom with me for moral support.”  
Lily’s eyes widened in horror and she snapped her mouth shut, returning to her chocolate cauldrons.   
Lucy caught Rose’s eye and the two girls grinned as they stood up to go downstairs for breakfast. “She’s going to be a handful when she’s older,” Lucy said, glancing over her shoulder at Lily.   
Rose looked affectionately at her younger cousin, who was flipping through the newest edition of Quidditch Through the Ages and opening a pack of sugar quills. “She’ll be alright,” Rose said. “She’s got us to keep her in check.” 

Christmas day passed in a flash of food, carols, and many, many hugs. After that the rest of the holiday flew by and before Rose knew it she was standing in the front hall with her trunk packed, waiting for her dad to get the car started so they could drive to King’s Cross.   
“I can’t believe it’s already time to go back,” Albus said, dragging his trunk into the hall.   
“I know,” Rose responded sadly, surveying the front hall and trying to commit everything to memory. “It feels like we just got here.”   
“And I won’t get to see you as much once we’re back to school,” Al said, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “I’ve just gotten used to seeing you all the time again.”   
“Lucy and I will meet up with you and Nathan in the library now,” Rose assured him. “So we won’t just see each other at meals and in class.”   
“Brilliant,” Albus said, giving her a smile.   
“Alright, you lot, let’s get everyone in the car!” Rose’s dad called as he walked through the doorway and picked up Rose and Al’s trunks. “Hermione’s just finished putting the charms on it, we should all be able to fit.”   
“Ready?” Al asked, dropping Rose’s hand and gesturing towards the door.   
“Ready,” Rose answered. With one last look at the Burrow, she walked to the car. 

As nice as it had felt to be back at the Burrow, returning to Hogwarts was almost better. Rose and Lucy shared stories of their holidays with Maren and Allie and Rose found there to be a certain pleasure in not being swarmed by family members everywhere she went.   
The first month of the new term passed pleasantly. Rose and Lucy spent every other evening in the library with Albus and Nathan, where they attempted to finish their enormous piles of homework. They were never very successful, as the boys were fun company and their studying nearly always devolved into raucous conversations, which earned them poisonous glares from the ancient librarian, Madam Pince.   
On the nights she wasn’t in the library with her cousin and new friend, Rose was usually curled up on a sofa in the Ravenclaw common room, either reading or (when Lucy was there) making a half-hearted attempt at her homework.   
On one such evening in early February, Rose sat at the end of the sofa chewing on her quill and staring at her half-finished potions essay.   
“Mind if I sit here?” someone asked.   
Rose looked up to find one of the Scamander twins, she wasn’t entirely sure which one, smiling at her.   
“Er, no, go ahead,” Rose said, turning back to her essay. She didn’t know the Scamanders well, even though they came to several of her family’s parties and they were good friends with her cousin Roxanne.   
“I don’t think we’ve ever properly introduced ourselves,” the Scamander twin said, sitting in the middle of the sofa instead of the end, so he and Rose were less than a foot apart. “I’m Lysander.” He held out his hand.   
“Er—I’m Rose,” she answered slowly, shaking his hand and raising an eyebrow.   
Lysander grinned. “I know,” he said. “But I wasn’t sure if you knew which one I was, so I thought I’d take the opportunity to tell you without making it embarrassing.”   
“Oh.” Rose flushed, dropping her gaze abashedly to the table in front of her. “I knew who you were,” she fibbed, knowing her embarrassment gave her away.   
“It’s quite alright if you didn’t,” Lysander said, settling back against the sofa and taking out a textbook. “Lorcan and I do look awfully alike, even our mum has trouble telling us apart sometimes.”   
Rose laughed and felt some of her embarrassment leave her. She glanced up and took a good look at Lysander, searching for any differences she could spot between him and his brother.   
He simply grinned as she stared at him. “My hair’s longer than Lorcan’s,” he supplied, having guessed correctly what she was trying to do. “And I have a freckle on my chin while he doesn’t.”   
Rose’s eyes swept from his dirty blond hair, which fell past his ears, to his pale blue eyes, to his chin where said freckle sat. “I’ll remember that,” she murmured, feeling her face heat up.   
He really wasn’t half bad looking, Rose thought. He was tall and gangly, which made him look awkward, but his shaggy hair framed his face nicely and his eyes were a pretty light blue that would have looked strange on anyone else but somehow looked just right on him. Rose shook her head, blushing.   
Lysander had turned away from her and was now rummaging in his bag for a roll of parchment. Rose took the opportunity to go back to her potions essay, her face still steaming.   
“Do you need help with that?” he asked suddenly, leaning over to peek at what she had written.   
“Er, no,” Rose stumbled, backing away automatically. Her eyes dropped back to the freckle on his chin he had pointed out. “I—I’m top of my class, did you know?” she blurted out, words pouring out of her. “I got all O’s on my exams and I understand all the concepts perfectly right now.” She cringed, snapping her jaw shut.  
“Good for you,” Lysander grinned, reaching out and ruffling her hair the way Fred and James did. “You should be proud of yourself.”   
“Thank you,” Rose said quietly. A strange fluttering sensation filled her chest as he touched her hair and Rose sucked in a deep breath. Her face and neck felt as though they were on fire and she knew without even having to look in a mirror that they were both scarlet. Suddenly feeling as though she had swallowed a bludger, Rose quickly snatched her potions essay and shoved it in her bag, tossing her quill and ink in after. “Well, I’ve got to go,” she said hurriedly, jumping up from the sofa. “Goodnight, Lysander.”   
“Ly,” he said, unfazed by her sudden departure. He brushed a piece of hair off his forehead and gave her a crooked smile. “Most people call me Ly.”   
“Right,” Rose breathed, wondering why her face still felt warm enough to cook an egg. “Well, goodnight, Ly.”   
“Goodnight, Rose,” he called.   
Rose didn’t look back as she ran up the spiral staircase to her dormitory. Once there she dropped her bag unceremoniously on the floor and catapulted herself onto her bed, landing face first on the mattress.   
“Rose?” Maren Thomas asked from across the room, walking over and sitting on Rose’s bed. “What’s wrong?”   
“I don’t know,” Rose wailed, wishing the blankets would swallow her up so she would never have to return to the common room or see Lysander Scamander again. “I was working and then Lysander—I mean Ly—came up and was talking to me—and he has pretty eyes and my face got all red and then I ran away and I think I might be ill.”   
“Ooh, he’s one of the twins, right?” Maren asked, jumping excitedly towards Rose.   
Rose nodded, still not lifting her head from the mattress. “I want to die from embarrassment,” she mumbled, grabbing a pillow and putting it over her head. “So then I never have to see anyone again.”   
“It couldn’t have been that bad,” Maren said, prying the pillow away.   
“It was,” Rose insisted, pulling the pillow back. “I can never talk to him again now.”   
Maren sighed and the sound of the dormitory door opening startled both girls.   
“Is Lucy in here?” Molly’s voice wafted from the doorway. Rose didn’t look up, still clutching the pillow over her head   
“No,” Maren answered. “I think she and Allie are in the library.”   
“Thanks,” Molly said. There was a pause, and Rose could feel her cousin’s eyes landing on her before Molly asked, “Rosie? Is that you? Why are you lying down like that?”   
“She wants to die from embarrassment,” Maren answered solemnly.   
From her spot Rose flushed again and tried to kick her roommate, though it was made difficult by the fact she was still face down on her mattress.   
“And why is that?” Molly asked, barely concealing her laughter. Rose heard her cousin’s footsteps and felt Molly sit on the bed beside her, gently pulling the pillow away.   
“Something about Lysander Scamander,” Maren said.   
“Rosie,” Molly cajoled, gently tugging a piece of Rose’s hair. “Sit up, please, and tell me what happened.”   
Rose shook her head, throwing her arm around in search of the pillow.   
“Rosie,” Molly’s voice turned to a warning tone. “Don’t make me tickle you.”   
Rose shook her head again, drawing her knees and elbows close to her as protection.   
Molly sighed. “I didn’t want to do this,” she murmured, before lunging forward and pinning Rose to the mattress, her fingers digging into Rose’s sides as the younger girl screeched and tried to wiggle away.   
“Tell me what happened,” Molly said through her giggles, moving a hand to the back of one of Rose’s knees. “Come on, Rosie, I promise I won’t tell Al or anyone.”   
“It—it’s—so embarrassing,” Rose pouted through her squeals.  
“So?” Molly asked, tickling the bottom of Rose’s foot and grinning. “We’ve all run through Grandma’s house with our underwear on our heads, Rosie, I don’t think we have much to be embarrassed about with each other anymore.”   
“Fine—fine!” Rose screamed, twisting away. Molly’s hands dropped and she smiled triumphantly. She shifted her weight so she was sitting back against Rose’s pillows and patted the spot next to her.   
With a huff, Rose crawled next to her cousin.   
“You can be in on it too, Maren,” Rose said, beckoning the other girl, who had been watching the whole spectacle with amusement.   
Maren looked surprised, but joined the two Weasleys on Rose’s bed, sitting cross-legged in front of them.   
“Right,” Molly said, putting an arm around Rose. “Tell me what happened.”   
Hiding her face behind her hands, Rose recounted her conversation with Lysander, ignoring Molly’s chuckles.  
“And now I’m in despair,” she finished dramatically, using the new word she had found in a book that week.   
Molly laughed and tugged at the end of Rose’s hair. “Sounds like our Rosie has a crush.”   
“I only just talked to him!” she cried, sitting bolt up straight and shaking her head. “And I just said I think his eyes are pretty and I like the freckle on his chin.”   
“Whatever you say,” Molly laughed. “But mind you don’t die from embarrassment anytime soon. Lucy would go berserk.”   
Rose scowled but didn’t say anything as her cousin stood up and walked to the door.   
Molly opened the door and was halfway out when she turned and said, “I’ll have Dom tell you some of her tips.” With a wink, she was gone.   
Rose slumped back on her bed.   
“The Scamanders are very nice,” Maren said, still sitting a foot away from Rose. “One of them helped me find the transfiguration classroom the first day.”   
“I know they are,” Rose grumbled, wanting to cover her face with a pillow again but resisting. She bit her lip and looked up at Maren, who was smiling at her. “Don’t tell anyone about this,” Rose asked, her voice coming out higher than she’d intended.   
Maren’s grin widened and she straightened out her legs and laid down next to Rose. “I won’t,” she said. “But you’ll have to show me which one of them he is.” 

After that it seemed Rose saw Lysander Scamander everywhere she went. He appeared in the corridors when she walked to class, giving her a smile and a polite “hi, Rose.” He sat next to her at dinner once or twice, which caused Rose to go temporarily mute for fear of saying something embarrassing. On these occasions she caught Molly glancing covertly at her and trying to smother her laughter, with Dom and Lucy, who were in on the secret. Rose always flushed at her cousins’ obvious amusement and sent them murderous glares across the dinner table. Lysander, for his part, seemed to notice none of this, for which Rose was extremely grateful.   
Winter melted away into spring and when the days became warm enough, Dom agreed to go flying with Rose. The two girls meandered down to the quidditch pitch, Dom shouldering her Nimbus 3600 and Rose carrying Victoire’s Comet 660.   
The pitch was empty, much to their delight, and Dom took a quaffle out of the ball crate she had dragged from the nearby shed before kicking off with Rose. They passed half an hour trading off being keeper. Rose managed to save all of Dom’s attempted goals except two, which made her puff her chest out with pride.   
“I think you’ve got the makings of a really great keeper, Rosie,” Dom grinned, holding the quaffle under her arm and flying closer so she didn’t have to shout. “Mind you, it’d be harder if you had an actual chaser and not a seeker trying to score, but some of those saves would be impressive even for someone my age.”   
Rose beamed at her cousin’s words, trying to look modest but unable to help the proud flush that crept onto her cheeks.   
“Do you think I could make the house team next year?” she asked breathlessly.   
Dom hesitated for a moment, her blonde hair flying around her face as she hovered on her broom. “I don’t want you thinking this is a promise,” she said warningly. “There’s always tough competition. But, I think if you were to try out next year you would have a good shot at making it.”   
Rose grinned and reached out to hug her cousin before remembering she was on a broomstick a hundred meters in the air. Catching the handle quickly before she fell, she felt her face turn red as Dom laughed.   
“Let’s keep playing before you fall off,” Dom suggested, flying back to her original position. “I’m going to try a lot harder now to score on you!” she shouted across the pitch.   
“Bring it!” Rose called back, shaking her head to focus as her cousin raced towards her, swerving and ducking. When she was within shooting distance, Dom feigned right and then shot the quaffle towards the center hoop. Rose barely caught it, just managing to snag it with the tips of her fingers.   
“Nice one, Rosie!” a voice which was not Dom’s called from below. Rose nearly dropped the quaffle in her surprise before looking down and feeling her stomach drop instead. Roxanne stood below them, her broom on her shoulder, waving madly, with Lysander standing beside her.   
“You two want to come up and practice with us?” Dom shouted.   
“Sure!” Roxanne yelled back cheerfully, getting on her broom and kicking off, Lysander right behind her.   
At the goal posts, Rose watched with apprehension as Roxie and Ly flew towards her and Dom.   
“We’ll take turns trying to score,” Dom said to the newcomers. “Since Rosie wants all the practice she can get.”   
“Excellent,” Lysander said, throwing Rose a smile. “Say, Rose, maybe if we practice enough we can both make the team next year.”   
“Yeah,” Rose mumbled, feeling her face heat up. “Maybe.”   
Dom smirked, but didn’t say anything as she gestured for Rose to throw her the quaffle. Rose complied and watched as her cousin tucked it safely under her arm before zooming towards her, eyes narrowed as she looked for a way to score.   
Rose gripped the handle of her broom and forced herself to watch Dom and not let her eyes wander to Lysander. Dom was flying straight at her, but leaned slightly to the right. Rose narrowed her eyes and braced herself. When Dom was only a few meters away and raised her arm to shoot, Rose reacted a second before her cousin threw the quaffle, flying to cover the right hoop, and catching the ball easily as Dom threw it.   
“How’d you know I was going for that one?” Dom demanded, furrowing her brow.   
Rose shrugged and tossed the quaffle back. “You were leaning a bit to the right,” she said. “I had a feeling.”   
“Well it was a bloody good one,” Dom said, her expression a mixture of disbelief and pleasure. She flew back to where Roxie and Lysander were waiting and tossed the quaffle to Roxie. “Don’t go easy on her,” she commanded, eyeing Rose with a small smile.   
Rose’s cousins and Lysander spent the next hour assailing her with the quaffle. To her relief she didn’t embarrass herself and managed to catch most of their attempted goals, though she had a harder time with Roxie, who had inherited her mother’s chasing skill.   
“Great job, Rose!” Lysander exclaimed, grinning after she blocked one of his throws with a particularly difficult maneuver her father had shown her that summer. “You’re going to be one hell of a keeper pretty soon.”   
Rose flushed and looked down. “Th-thanks,” she stammered, trying to suppress the ridiculously wide smile which had spread across her face.   
“Anytime,” Lysander said, taking the quaffle from her and throwing it to Dom.   
They stayed on the pitch until the sky grew dark and Dom checked her watch and announced it was nearly dinner. They touched down on the grass, all a bit red faced with sweaty hair sticking to their faces.   
“You two can go on,” Dom said to Roxie and Lysander, tossing the quaffle between her hands. “Rose can help me put this away.”   
They both grinned and waved goodbye, shouldering their brooms as they walked off the pitch. Rose watched them leave. Roxie was talking animatedly about something, making big sweeping gestures with her hands while Lysander threw his head back and let out a peal of laughter.   
“Rose, will you help me carry this back?” Dom asked, holding one handle of the ball crate. Rose nodded slowly and took the other handle, glancing over her shoulder at Roxie and Ly as she helped her cousin drag the crate into the shed.   
“You did really well today,” Dom said after she had locked the shed door, turning back towards the castle.   
“Thanks,” Rose said, smiling in spite of herself as she fell into step with her cousin. “Aunt Ginny promised me she’d play with me over the summer too, so I’ll be even better for tryouts next year.”   
“Mhm,” Dom murmured, watching Rose with interest. A smirk spread across her face as she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “It was nice of Roxie and Lysander to play with us.”   
“Oh,” Rose faltered, turning red again like she did every time Ly was mentioned. “Yes, well, it would have been odd for them to be on the pitch at the same time and not practice with us.”   
“It would have been,” Dom agreed, her smirk growing. “Lysander seemed really impressed with your keeping skills,” she said, waggling her eyebrows and nudging Rose’s shoulder.   
“Shut up,” Rose grumbled.   
They put the brooms away in the broomshed and made their way back to the castle. After dinner Rose met back with Lucy in the common room, where Lucy did homework and Rose relived that afternoon. By the time she went to bed she had come to the conclusion that Lysander Scamander was one of the most wonderful people she had ever met. 

Spring at Hogwarts was even better than fall and winter, Rose decided as April bloomed and the grounds slowly started to come alive again after being dormant for months. Though it was still cold enough to warrant a cloak, Rose dragged Lucy and, when she could manage it, Albus outside to walk around the grounds and see the flowers and animals. In class she had been reprimanded more than once for staring dreamily out the window instead of paying attention to the lesson, and Professor Lyncroft had threatened to put her in detention if it happened again. The idea of explaining to her parents why exactly she had gotten a detention was enough to make Rose sit up straighter and pick up her quill, but her eyes still drifted every few minutes to the window, through which she could see tiny flowers beginning to burst from their bulbs.   
The last week in April was a particularly warm one and Rose walked back to Ravenclaw Tower lamenting the fact she had been unable to persuade Lucy to do their homework outside. Lucy had insisted instead that they work with Albus and Nathan in the library, where they had been joined by Scorpius Malfoy and Tommy Greengrass.   
Scorpius, it seemed, had decided to ignore Rose indefinitely for her comment about his family before Christmas holidays. While most days it didn’t bother her what Scorpius Malfoy did, somehow it was different when they were sitting in a small group at a table in the library and he engaged with everyone else while pointedly pretending she didn’t exist.   
It was for this reason that Rose was now walking alone back to the common room. After over an hour of attempting to hold her tongue and make nice with Scorpius, she had gotten fed up with being ignored and pretended to have forgotten to give something to Dom in order to get away.   
Rose grumbled to herself as she made her way down the seventh floor corridor, grinding her teeth as she thought of names that befit Scorpius Malfoy. They included, but were not limited to: Goblin-face, dungbomb-breath, and scumbag. She was so absorbed in her thoughts that she did not hear the faint rustling sound coming behind her, nor the muffled footsteps.   
A hand clasped on her upper arm and Rose shrieked as something pulled her towards the wall.   
“What the—“   
A hand covered her mouth and rumbling laughter erupted beside her as Fred emerged from thin air, muffling her angry exclamations with his hand as his shoulders shook.   
“Oh—Merlin,” he wheezed, taking his hand away and bending over as he continued to laugh himself silly. “You—oh, your face, Rosie—“   
Rose spotted a mass of silvery fabric, which she recognized as the Potters’ invisibility cloak, clutched in his free hand. She glared at him, putting her hands to her hips like Grandma Molly did when someone was in trouble. “That wasn’t funny!” she snapped.   
“No, it was,” Fred said, regaining some of his composure though his voice still trembled with mirth. “Oh, Merlin—“ he wiped a tear from his eye and straightened up, his face red. “Oh, that was priceless.”   
“Why did you have to do that to me?” Rose whined. “I hate it when James sneaks up on me with that cloak, why did you have to?”   
“Well,” Fred said, having completely regained control of himself, “we need the cloak because you and I are going on an adventure, Rosie. I just thought it’d be fun to give you a bit of a scare first.”   
“An adventure?” Rose asked, her eyes gleaming excitedly as she forgot all about her irritation. “What kind of adventure?”   
“An outdoors adventure,” Fred grinned, taking a piece of battered parchment out of his pocket and unfolding it. “I know you’ve been dying to get outside all day.”   
“Is that why we need the cloak?” Rose asked, eyeing her cousin with interest as he tapped the parchment with his wand and muttered, “I solemnly swear that I am up to no good.”   
“You got it,” Fred murmured, examining a section of the intricate map which had appeared. “I can’t sit back knowing Rosie Posie hasn’t been able to get out of the castle today when the weather’s like this.”   
“Are we going now?” Rose asked, looking down suddenly at her school bag hanging off her shoulder.   
“I’ll wait a few minutes so you can put your things away and change,” Fred said. “Mind you don’t take too long, though.”   
Rose nodded and quickly began walking towards Ravenclaw Tower. Thankfully, the eagle knocker gave her a relatively easy riddle and she burst into the common room, running up the spiral stairs.   
“Where are you going?” Allie asked, watching as Rose threw her bag on the ground and hastily tore off her school skirt and tugged on a pair of jeans.   
“I’m not sure,” Rose responded enthusiastically, not bothering to explain further as she grabbed her wand and ran back out of the room.   
Fred was in the same spot and Rose ran up to him eagerly. He grinned and pocketed the map before throwing the cloak over them.   
He led her down to the main floor and then to the large oak doors. With a flick of his wand Fred undid the locks and he slowly pushed the doors open, grabbing Rose’s hand and pulling her outside.   
The grounds were beautiful, even in the moonlight. Rose’s head swiveled around to take it all in. To her left the lake seemed to glow in the moonlight; on the other side the Forbidden Forest stood, menacing as always, but with bunches of flowers springing up at the edges.   
“Come on,” Fred said, tugging Rose out of her musings and dragging forward as he pulled the cloak off them.   
“Where are we going?” Rose asked, trotting behind her cousin.   
“You’ll see,” Fred answered, grinning at her over his shoulder.   
They wandered over to the broom shed and Fred pulled out his Nimbus, which he leaned against his shoulder as he directed Rose towards the quidditch pitch.  
Rose said nothing, but she buzzed excitedly as she made her way down to the pitch, glancing occasionally over at Fred with his broom.   
When they reached the pitch Fred stopped and swung a leg over his broom, moving back so that there was space in front of him for Rose. She climbed on and held tight to the handle as Fred kicked off.  
The cool air whipped around her face as Fred steered them around the quidditch pitch a few times. Rose leaned back slightly so her shoulders touched her cousins chest.   
“I bet you haven’t been able to fly much, have you?” Fred asked.   
“No,” Rose shook her head sadly. “I come out and practice with Dom a lot, but I have to borrow Vic’s broom for that and I can never just take a ride for fun.”   
“Well, next year you can bring your own broom,” Fed said. “And then when we do this you can ride your own.”   
“And we can race!” Rose exclaimed, her face lighting up at the prospect.   
Fred chuckled and tugged the end of her hair. “Yeah, we can race,” he laughed.   
They rode in silence for a few minutes. After circling the quidditch pitch Fred turned the broom and took off towards the castle.   
“Where are we going?” Rose asked, gripping the handle tightly as she looked around. She had never seen the castle from this altitude. It looked, if possible, even more regal from up high, with the towers lit up and the stone walls glowing in the moonlight.   
“Just around the castle a bit,” Fred said. “I like to fly around the astronomy tower, it has the best view of the stars.”   
“Do you do this often?” Rose asked, craning her neck to try and catch a glimpse of Ravenclaw Tower.   
“I try to do it at least once a year,” Fred said. “Teddy took me and James our first year, and last year I decided to go by myself.”   
“And this year you took me,” Rose said, flushing with pride that Fred had chosen to share this with her, and not James or Albus or even his sister.   
“I thought you would appreciate it the most,” Fred replied, taking a hand off the broom for a moment to squeeze her arm. “James and Al are great to fly with and play quidditch, but neither of them really care for watching stars.”   
Rose nodded, looking towards the sky where hundreds of pinpricks of light were visible. She squinted and tried to pick out the ones they had learned about in astronomy.   
“That’s Venus,” she said, pointing towards a particularly bright speck.   
“Yup, and that constellation over there is Orion’s Belt,” Fred said, leaning over and pointing out the shape in the sky.   
“Uncle Harry told me that Sirius’ father’s name was Orion,” Rose murmured. “That everyone in that family was named after stars.”   
“I heard that too,” Fred said quietly. “That’s why Teddy’s grandma’s name is Andromeda. Did you know she was Sirius’ cousin?”   
“I didn’t,” Rose whispered. Her eyes widened and she turned to look at Fred. “But she’s not—mum and dad said that Sirius’ family supported—“   
“Andromeda never supported Voldemort,” Fred said firmly. “She got disowned, like Sirius.”   
“Oh,” Rose frowned, staring down at the broom handle. “That’s so sad.”   
“Better than staying in a family that doesn’t want you,” Fred replied. “But nothing like that is ever going to happen to us, Rosie. That’s why our parents fought in that war, so that things like that won’t happen.”   
“I know,” Rose said. “But it’s still sad.”   
Fred nodded, and Rose felt him shift so he was staring at the sky again. After a moment he spoke again, pointing at something above Gryffindor Tower. “That constellation right there is Scorpius,” he said.   
Rose looked up in surprise, her eyes following the line of Fred’s hand and tracing out the picture in the sky. “I didn’t know that was a constellation,” she said.   
“It’s not one of the more well-known ones,” Fred muttered. “And I guess some traditions die hard.”   
“What—“ Rose began, furrowing her brow. Her face cleared after a moment as she realized what he had meant. “Is he—Scorpius—he’s related to—“   
“His grandmother is Andromeda’s sister,” Fred said, still staring at the constellation.   
“Is she—“   
“She wasn’t disowned.”   
“Oh.” Rose paused for a moment, her face scrunching up as she thought over what Fred had told her. “So he and Teddy are related?”   
“They’re some type of cousins,” Fred answered. “Though I guess neither of them would really consider the other family. I heard my parents talking a few years ago, apparently Andromeda hasn’t spoken to her sister since before Teddy’s mum was born.”   
Rose closed her mouth, sitting in silence as she mulled over this information.   
Fred steered the broom around the astronomy tower and then stopped so they hung in the air, the breeze rustling Rose’s hair as she sat and stared at the sky.   
“Do—do you think that they—I mean, Andromeda’s sister and Scorpius’ family—do you think they still believe all that—everything they believed during the war?”   
Fred sighed and tugged Rose closer to him. “I don’t know, Rosie,” he said. “Uncle Harry says Scorpius’ dad changed after the war, and the Greengrasses aren’t blood purists so Scorpius’ mother doesn’t believe in any of it. But, I don’t know, Rosie. Those kinds of prejudices don’t just up and disappear.”  
“Scorpius never mentions his grandparents, or the war if he can help it,” Rose said. “The only time he gets angry is when someone mentions it.”   
“He’s probably ashamed,” Fred said. “Wouldn’t you be?”   
“I suppose,” Rose said. “It’s strange, though. Most people like talking about the war.”   
“We like talking about the war because our parents won the war,” Fred murmured. “Not everybody has that.”   
Rose smiled and turned around to face her cousin. “When did you get so smart?” she asked. “Vic’s usually the one who says things like that.”   
Fred shrugged. “I guess I’ve been hanging around with our parents a bit too much,” he said. “The Weasley nobility is starting to show.”   
“Shut up,” Rose giggled, trying to smack him.   
Fred caught her arm and returned it to her side. “Don’t go making us fall, Rose Minerva Weasley,” he said firmly. “Your dad would murder me if you got hurt.”   
“Fine,” she grumbled in mock annoyance, regaining her grip on the broom handle. Fred steered so they were flying through the air once again, around the back of the castle.   
“Enough about the war though,” Fred said. “You’re almost done with your first year of school. How was it, honestly? Don’t just say it was good.”   
“It was,” Rose hesitated, “it was good, but it didn’t go how I expected.”   
Fred nodded. “You were probably expecting it would be like home, where you always saw Albus and James and I, just you would have lessons.”   
“Yeah,” Rose admitted. “But I made new friends. And now I talk to Lucy a lot more.”   
“And what’s your favorite class?” Fred asked. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you give anyone a straight answer on that.”   
“I don’t know,” Rose frowned. “They’re all interesting, except for history of magic, but I don’t know if I have a favorite.”   
“Wait until third year,” Fred said. “You get to take new ones and then you’ll find something you love.”   
“Did you?” Rose asked, embarrassed she had never thought to ask her cousin what his favorite class was before.   
“Yeah,” Fred answered, grinning. “Care of magical creatures. It’s brilliant.”   
“I’ll take it when I’m a third year then,” Rose said.   
“I look forward to it,” Fred replied. He turned his head towards the castle and then checked his watch. “I reckon we should be getting back,” he said. “Filch patrols the ground floor in half an hour.”   
They glided easily back to the quidditch pitch, where they landed softly on the grass. Fred returned his broom to the broomshed and took the invisibility cloak and Marauder’s map from the corner where he had hidden them and the two cousins walked quietly back to the castle.   
When they reached the front doors Fred threw the cloak around himself and Rose and took out the map. Carefully, they made their way up to Ravenclaw Tower.   
“Thank you for taking me,” Rose said quietly when they reached the eagle knocker.   
“No problem, Rosie,” Fred answered, pulling her in for a hug. “I couldn’t let my favorite cousin finish her first year without going for a nighttime fly.”   
Rose giggled and Fred released her. She turned to the knocker.   
“What can go up but not down?” the eagle asked.   
“Er,” Rose thought. “Oh! Your age.”   
“That is correct,” the eagle said as the door swung open.   
“Goodnight, Rosie,” Fred said, squeezing her shoulder.   
“Goodnight, Fred,” she grinned over her shoulder as she walked into the common room. The door shut behind her and Fred was gone. Rose climbed the spiral staircase to her dormitory slowly. She could hear the wind whistling outside. With a smile, she twisted the doorknob and entered her dorm. She glanced out the tall, arched window. Scorpius glinted back at her, as if bidding her goodnight. 

April slipped by. On May 2nd the annual Victory Ball was held, though Rose wasn’t allowed to go as it was for fourth years and above. She and Lucy joined Victoire, who turned eighteen that day, Dom and Molly in Dom’s dormitory as the older girls got ready. Afterwards, she and Lucy returned to their dorm to tell Maren and Allie about their cousins’ dresses and hair.   
The next morning Rose trooped down to the common room to be surrounded by her cousins, who were all screeching wildly with news.   
“What? What?” Rose asked, swiveling her head wildly around as her cousins converged like vultures. “What happened?”   
“Victoire and Teddy are moving in together!” Dom shrieked, a rabid smile plastered on her face. “He came to the ball last night to surprise her and asked her to live with him after she graduates!”  
“What?!” Rose cried, staring at her oldest cousin, whose face had gone red.   
“We’re going flat hunting right after exams,” she mumbled, unable to smother her smile.   
Rose cried out happily, leaping forward and embracing her cousin. “This is so exciting!” she shouted into Victoire’s shoulder, which was as high as she could reach seeing as Rose barely measured at five foot two and Victoire was nearly six feet tall.   
“I know,” Vic laughed, hugging Rose. “And I promise once we’re all moved in we’ll have everyone over.”   
Word spread quickly that Vic and Teddy were moving in together and Rose and Lucy spent an hour in the library with Albus and Nathan discussing the turn of events. The boys were decidedly less interested in the new development, but Rose continued chattering about it anyway. 

All too soon June arrived. Rose’s birthday was on June first and her cousins surprised her with a celebration in Ravenclaw Tower.   
“Happy birthday, Rosie!” Fred and James cried in unison as they forced a muggle party hat on her head.   
The Weasleys and Potters stayed in the common room as late as they could, until Victoire ordered everyone not in Ravenclaw to go back to their own common rooms. Rose fell asleep quickly that night, her mind buzzing and her heart overflowing. 

Exams descended upon Hogwarts and it seemed that nobody did anything except study anymore. Rose huffed in annoyance in the Ravenclaw common room one night, looking up from The Magician’s Nephew. She was growing bored of spending every evening reading by herself. Lucy, Al, and Nathan all were busy studying and Rose didn’t feel the need to do the same. Her older cousins were even worse. Victoire was neck deep in books in a corner of the common room, muttering about being accepted into the Auror program. Dominique was no better, sitting with a cluster of fifth years studying for O.W.L.s. Molly, who had drawn up study schedules for everyone, spent most of her days in the library.   
“I can’t believe you haven’t studied for anything,” Lucy grumbled over breakfast the morning before exams started, scowling as she poured syrup over her French toast. “I feel like I’ve hardly left the library in two weeks.”   
“You could always stay in the common room with me,” Rose answered, shoveling eggs in her mouth.   
“I couldn’t,” Lucy said in an affronted tone, pulling at her ponytail. “I’d never pass and what would my parents say if I failed all my exams?”  
“You wouldn’t fail,” Rose said. “Honestly, Luce, it’s not that difficult. We already know almost everything we need to for exams.”   
“Maybe you do,” Lucy muttered, spearing a kipper. “The rest of us need to study, though.” 

They sat their exams, and though Lucy almost pulled out a handful of hair from tugging the end of her ponytail constantly for the duration of every test, at the end they were no worse for wear. Lucy insisted she failed transfiguration, and Rose’s potions practical didn’t go quite as well as she hoped, but overall both girls thought they had done well enough.   
Gryffindor won the quidditch cup, a fact which James shouted gleefully across the Great Hall one evening. Rose grinned and ran over to give her cousin a hug. It had been his first season on the team, and he was glowing with pride.   
And so, the Weasleys at Hogwarts were in good spirits as they took their seats for the final feast. Beside them, Dom had purple circles under her eyes and whenever anyone asked how exams went she responded with a curt, “let’s not talk about it.”   
Victoire looked exhausted, but still managed a smile as it was announced that Hufflepuff won the house cup.  
“Teddy will be happy about that,” Vic said as the food appeared.   
Rose returned to her dormitory that night and packed her trunk, chattering with Maren and Allie as they all promises to write and meet up in Diagon Alley one afternoon, since Maren’s father’s office was there and she spent most of her summers with him.   
Exam results came out and the girls passed everything; Lucy was pleased to see she hadn’t actually failed transfiguration. Rose glowed with pride to see she had made top marks in every class, until she reached the bottom of the page and saw she had come in second in potions, right behind Scorpius Malfoy.


	4. Second Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second year begins for Rose and co.

Rose couldn’t wait for summer. Hogwarts had been fun and she enjoyed seeing her cousins and friends every day, but the prospect of spending two months at home with her family without any school work made her heart thump with excitement.   
When the Weasley-Potter clan reached King’s Cross Rose hugged each of her cousins goodbye and made promises to write before running into her father’s outstretched arms and wandering towards her family’s car. She spent nearly the entire drive home chattering about the feast and exams and her excitement over being able to bring her broom to school in September.   
The sight of her own house, with the familiar foyer and welcoming smell of cinnamon buns overwhelmed Rose for a moment when she walked through the front door. After being away for nearly a full nine months Rose wanted to run to each room and make sure everything was as she had left it. And although she hid it, Rose was immensely glad when her mum told her they would be spending the first bit of summer at home just the four of them. Extended family was all well and good, but it had been a long time since her family had spent time together and Rose found she rather missed it.   
The Potters had gone on holiday to France and Lucy’s family had gone to Ireland. Rose missed Albus and Lucy but was perfectly content to spend the time at home, where her mum exclaimed proudly over her marks and her dad played dozens of games of chess with her and Hugo demonstrated the new quidditch maneuver Aunt Ginny had taught him.   
To her chagrin, Rose discovered that in the months since Christmas her little brother had grown, making him undeniably taller than her. Hugo grinned down at her as they stood next to each other and Rose scowled.   
“Don’t worry, Rosie,” her dad had told her reassuringly, “you’re only twelve. There’s still a good chance you’ll grow more.”   
For her birthday, which had been in the first week of June, her parents bought her a beautiful tawny owl so she wouldn’t have to borrow one of her cousins’ to write home. Rose oohed and aahed when her dad brought the cage out and her parents beamed at her reaction. After taking numerous suggestions from her parents and Hugo, Rose named her owl Aslan, after the lion in The Chronicles of Narnia.   
A month passed pleasantly; Rose spent her days playing one-on-one quidditch with Hugo and making her way through the Anne of Green Gables books, which her mother had bought for her at a second hand bookstore in London.   
By the time Albus and Lucy returned from their holidays it was time for them to go to the Burrow for the last month of holiday, as was the Weasley-Potter summer tradition. To Rose’s delight, her parents said they would not be returning home before leaving for school, as it was easier for the whole family to make the trip to King’s Cross together. She packed her school things with her summer clothes, grinning madly the whole time as she thought of the prospect of arriving at the train station with all her cousins surrounding her, instead of waiting nervously like last year. 

Rose walked through the front door of the Burrow behind her parents and was immediately surrounded by family, all buzzing excitedly after being separated for an unusually long period of time.   
“How are you?” Dominique asked, pulling Rose in for a hug, her long blonde hair obscuring Rose’s sight. “I feel as though I haven’t seen you in ages!”   
“M’alright,” Rose responded thickly through her cousin’s hair, pulling back to try and draw a breath. “You?”   
“Brilliant,” Dom said with a grin, releasing Rose. “We’ll talk later, yeah?”   
She disappeared before Rose had a chance to answer and Fred and James came into view.   
“Hello, Rosie!” James called, throwing an arm around her shoulder. “Miss me?”   
“Definitely not,” Rose said teasingly.   
James pretended to scowl and ruffled her hair, moving aside so Fred could wrap Rose in a tight hug.   
“Have a good start to your holiday?” he asked.   
“Mhm,” Rose murmured. “I wish I could’ve seen you lot more, though.”   
Fred shrugged, still not letting go of her. “You didn’t miss much,” he said. “Most everyone was abroad, and Roxie and I were helping Dad in the store.”  
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rose demanded, breaking out of Fred’s embrace to scowl at him. “I could’ve helped too, it would have been like when we were little!”   
Fred chuckled and ruffled Rose’s hair. “We were under strict orders not to interrupt your family for any reason.”   
“But that’s still not—oof!”   
There was a crash and a flailing of limbs as Rose fell to the ground with a heavy thud, another person crying out as they fell with her.   
“Sorry ‘bout that, Rosie,” Albus muttered, rolling to the side and shaking his hair out of his eyes. He fixed her with the shit-eating grin all three Potter children seemed to have inherited. “I got excited and overshot a bit.”  
“No kidding,” Rose muttered, pushing herself off the ground. She had just regained her balance when she was promptly knocked over again, this time by Lucy, whose arms wrapped around Rose in a suffocating hug as they hurtled to the ground, landing on top of Albus.   
“Oof,” all three cousins groaned.   
“You two are trying to kill me,” Rose complained, massaging her ribcage, which was probably permanently bruised now.   
“I’m excited to see you!” Lucy exclaimed, detangling herself from the pile and standing up. “We haven’t seen each other in nearly a month!”   
“That doesn’t mean you have to assault me,” Rose grumbled, taking Albus’ extended hand and using it to hoist herself to her feet.   
“We didn’t assault you,” Albus said. “We hugged you.”   
“And knocked me over,” Rose responded pointedly.   
“It’s not our fault you’re so small,” Albus said with a shrug, grinning at the frown on Rose’s face.   
“I’m not small!” she exclaimed, glaring at him. “You’re only three inches taller than me!”  
“Whatever you say, Rosie,” Albus said, still grinning as he tapped her on the head.   
“Come on,” Lucy said, stepping between the two before things escalated. While rolling her eyes as she grabbed both her cousins by the hand and dragged them down the hallway. “Grandma Molly said if we get to the kitchen before the others we can lick the extra fairy cake icing off the bowl.” 

The family fell into their usual routine at the Burrow, with the cousins spending their days playing quidditch and lounging about the house. They had visitors nearly every day, usually either Uncle Neville and his family or the Scamanders. When Lorcan and Lysander came to visit Rose made a point to spend the day inside with Lucy so as not to embarrass herself in front of Lysander. Somehow, though, he always managed to find her and say hello and she always answered with eloquent greetings like “I haven’t been to the loo all day,” before turning red and running away.   
When there were no boys present to give her butterflies in her stomach, Rose, for the most part, spent her days with Albus and Lucy, catching up on their holidays. Rose showed her cousins Aslan and they both oohed and aahed appropriately over the owl, before asking wide-eyed if they would be allowed to use him as well.   
Rose assured them both they would be able to use Aslan whenever they liked, puffing out her chest and smiling benevolently. There had never been a question as to whether or not her cousins would be able to use the owl, but it still felt wonderful to grant them permission as though it were some selfless act on her part. 

Victoire came to visit a few days after everyone arrived, telling her younger cousins all about auror training and what it was like to live in London, promising to have them all over for tea in December. Uncle Bill looked disgruntled when his daughter began describing the décor in her flat and Dom whispered to everyone that he had gone “completely ballistic,” when Vic announced her plans to move in with Teddy.   
Rose ignored Uncle Bill and hung on to Vic’s every word, her eyes wide as she imagined herself one day living in a London flat and spending her days preparing to go on dangerous missions and fight dark wizards just like her parents and cousin.   
Teddy himself came to visit frequently, sometimes accompanying Victoire and sometimes by himself. He had recently been promoted at the ministry, where he worked in the Department of International Magical Cooperation, and Grandma Molly baked a cake and held a celebration dinner for him one night, reminiscing tearfully about how Uncle Percy had gotten his start in the very same department. Teddy smiled politely and nodded, before taking a seat beside Lily Potter and letting her do his makeup with her new fairy eyeshadow set. 

Hogwarts letters came two weeks into the stay. To Lucy’s dismay and everyone else’s delight Molly had been made a prefect. Aunt Audrey made a cake that night and Uncle Percy clapped his eldest daughter on the shoulder and proudly announced, “She’ll be minister of magic one day!” At this the corners of Lucy’s mouth had tugged down so far Rose had worried they might actually stick that way. It took nearly an entire afternoon of reading through the ridiculous articles in Witch Weekly with Lily and Rose for Lucy to smile again. 

Before anyone knew it September 1st arrived and it was time for the cousins to return to school. The Burrow was in chaos that morning, with all nine school-aged children and their parents scurrying around trying to locate forgotten books and shoes. Somehow, they managed to get all nine trunks, six broomsticks, and five owls packed away in two magically expanded cars. At ten o’clock they all lined up to kiss Grandma Molly and Grandpa Arthur goodbye, promising to write, before filing into their assigned cars.   
The family walked onto Platform Nine and Three Quarters in a massive clump, attracting several stares and whispers as they did so. Dominique and Molly kissed their parents and hurried away almost as soon as they approached the train, saying something about catching up with friends and Molly rambling about a prefects meeting. Uncle Percy detached himself from the group soon after, saying he had to get to his post at the front of the train to check that incoming broomsticks met ministry regulations. He gave Lucy a kiss and hugged his remaining nieces and nephews before striding away briskly, straightening his tie.   
James left next, giving each of his parents a hug and dropping a kiss on his younger sister’s head before bounding away. Fred and Roxanne departed soon after, leaving Rose, Albus, and Lucy with the adults and Louis, who was starting school that year and was currently in danger of being suffocated by his mother as Aunt Fleur sobbed into his shirt.   
“’e eez my baby,” she sniffled, dabbing a handkerchief to her glistening face, which somehow remained beautiful even when tear-stained and puffy. She swept her hair out of her eyes and clutched at her eleven-year-old son. “My last baby eez leaving.”   
“Dear, it’s alright,” Uncle Bill said, taking his wife by the elbow and gently prying her off their son. “You weren’t this upset when the girls went.”   
“We always ‘ad one at ‘ome,” Fleur choked out. Rose felt a pang of sympathy for her aunt, who looked equal parts sorrowful and confused as she gazed at her small son, as though she wasn’t sure how it was possible he was leaving.   
“I’ll write home, Mama,” Louis chirped, glancing nervously towards the train. “I’ll write every night.”   
“And we’ll be with him, Aunt Fleur,” Lucy said, putting an arm around Louis. “We won’t let anything happen to him.”   
“See?” Uncle Bill said, nodding thankfully at Lucy and wrapping an arm around Aunt Fleur’s waist. “He’s going to be fine.”   
“They do need to be getting on the train soon, though,” Rose’s mum said, checking her watch nervously. She shot a small smile in Rose’s direction and then put a comforting hand on Aunt Fleur’s shoulder. “I know it’s difficult. I’m sure I’ll be just as bad next year when Hugo goes.”   
“You better not be,” Rose’s dad said, his face contorted in horror as he looked between his wife and sniffling sister-in-law.   
“Ron!” Aunt Ginny hissed, smacking him in the shoulder.   
“I think it’s time to say goodbye,” Uncle Harry said, putting a hand on Aunt Ginny’s arm and raising his eyebrow at Ron. “That way the kids have enough time to get on the train and find seats, yeah?”   
“I agree,” Hermione said, giving her husband a pointed look. She bent down and wrapped Rose in a hug. “Have a good term, Rosie,” she said quietly. “I’ll miss you.”   
“I’ll miss you too, Mum,” Rose said.   
“Bye, Rosie,” Hugo said, making a show of stooping down to hug her. Rose scowled and hugged him back with decidedly less enthusiasm.   
“Bye, Hugh,” she muttered.   
Hugo smiled proudly and let go of her. Rose’s dad came up happily and wrapped his arms around his daughter, tugging at the ends of her hair affectionately.   
“Saved the best for last, did you?” he said.   
“Of course,” Rose answered, smiling to herself.   
“Make sure you write to us,” Ron said. “I want to see Aslan at the house at least once a week, understand?”   
“Yup,” Rose nodded. “You’ll see him a lot, I promise.”   
“Have fun this year, Rosie. Don’t brew any illegal potions in a bathroom, like your mother did when we were in school.”   
“Ron!” Hermione cried indignantly. “For heaven’s sake, don’t tell them that!”   
“What?” Rose’s dad shrugged, releasing his daughter and grinning at his wife. “You really did brew an illegal potion in a girl’s loo and honestly—“   
“That’s not the point—oh! This isn’t the time!” Hermione sputtered, her face going red as she turned to her daughter, niece and nephews, who were all looking at her curiously. “I think it’s a good time for you lot to get on the train.”   
Rose hugged her aunts and uncles goodbye and stepped onto the Hogwarts Express behind Albus. She looked over her shoulder and caught her dad’s eye; he winked and grinned before Uncle Harry slammed the door shut.   
“Should we go find the compartment?” Albus asked after the echoing sound of the door closing had died away. He took hold of Louis’ hand and peered down the corridor.   
“D’ya reckon it’s the same one as last year?” Rose asked, starting down the hallway in search of the family compartment.   
“I dunno,” Albus shrugged. “Even if it is, I don’t know if I remember where it was last year.”   
“I think it’s in this car,” Lucy said, peering through compartment doors as they meandered down the corridor. About halfway down she paused in front of a door and looked around at her cousins.   
“Is that them?” Rose asked, standing on her toes and peering around Lucy to try and make out the people inside the compartment. “It doesn’t look like there’s many people in there.”   
“It’s Nathan, Tommy and Scorpius,” Lucy said, reaching a hand out to open the compartment door.   
“Oh,” Rose muttered. She wanted to tell Lucy not to open the door, to keep going until they found the rest of their family. Although she wouldn’t mind seeing Nathan and Tommy and hearing about their summers, seeing Scorpius so early into the term was not something Rose wanted to do. He always managed to either make her feel exceedingly angry or guilty.   
“Excellent,” Albus said from behind Rose, pulling Louis forward and maneuvering around Lucy to open the door with gusto, not sparing a second to think about whether Rose would want to see everyone in the compartment.  
The three boys looked up curiously when the door slid open. Nathan sat closest to the door, with Scorpius next to him by the window and Tommy across from them. All three grinned when they saw Albus.   
“How’re you, mate?” Nathan asked amiably, sliding over to make room.   
“We’re just stopping by,” Albus said, gesturing towards his cousins. “Wanted to see how you lot are doing.”   
“Not bad,” Nathan answered, his eyes swiveling up towards Lucy and Rose before landing on Louis, who had been trying to half hide behind Albus. “What’s your name?” Nathan asked kindly, smiling at the younger Weasley cousin.   
“Louis,” the first year replied quietly.   
“Nice to meet you, Louis,” Nathan said, extending a hand which Louis shook uncertainly. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing you around, Al and I are together a fair bit.”   
Louis nodded and dropped his eyes to the floor. At this Nathan turned his gaze to Rose and Lucy. “How’re you two doing?” he asked pleasantly. “Good holidays?”   
Both girls nodded and murmured affirmations.   
“Fantastic,” Lucy said, tugging at the ends of her hair nervously as her cheeks turned pink. “I’m sorry I never got a chance to write to you.”   
“Don’t worry about it,” Nathan shrugged. “You can tell me all about it in the library some evening.”   
“R-right,” Lucy stammered, shifting her gaze quickly to the other two boys. “Tommy, Scorpius, how are you?”   
“Not bad,” Tommy said cheerfully, taking a chocolate frog from a pile on the table between the boys and unwrapping it.   
“Happy to be back?” Lucy asked.   
“Definitely,” Tommy grinned before taking a bite out of the candy.   
“And you, Scorpius?” Lucy asked, looking up at the blond boy.   
Scorpius shifted in his seat and looked down at the table. After a few seconds he looked up at the cousins, his gaze sweeping over each of their faces. His grey eyes latched onto Rose’s momentarily and she raised her eyebrows, staring at him until he looked away. “It was alright,” he said quietly. “I’m glad to be back, though.”   
“Second year should be a fun one,” Albus said. “And we can try out for quidditch! Have you lot brought your brooms? Rose and I both have.”   
All three boys nodded their heads. “Although,” Tommy said, “I don’t think I’m going to be trying out for the house team.”   
“Why not?” Rose asked, perking up at the mention of the Ravenclaw quidditch team. “I mean, I asked Dom over the summer and she said there was a good chance most of the current players were going to be let back on, but you never know. And I didn’t know you played, which position do you prefer? What broom do you have? We can practice together sometime, if you’d like; Dom and I usually spend a bit of time on the pitch every evening after dinner.”   
“Er,” Tommy faltered, looking as though he weren’t sure which question to answer first. “I usually play keeper, though I’m not very good. I only play really when Scorp wants to practice.”   
“I didn’t know you played quidditch,” Rose said, turning to Scorpius in surprise, quidditch trumping her desire to not interact with him.   
He nodded, not bothering to respond.   
“Do you always play chaser?” Rose asked, her voice laced with irritation at his lack of response.   
Again he nodded, still without saying a word.   
Rose gritted her teeth and turned away from the mute. “We’d best be going,” she said to Albus and Lucy, fighting to keep the annoyance out of her voice. She turned and smiled at Nathan and Tommy as she stepped out of the compartment. “It was brilliant to see you.”   
“We’ll catch up later,” Lucy said.   
“See you lot at the castle, then,” Nathan said warmly, waving as they closed the compartment door and continued down the corridor.   
“You should be nicer to Scorpius,” Lucy said pointedly to Rose.   
“Me?” Rose cried, flushing indignantly. “I was nice to him, he just doesn’t bloody talk to me!”   
“You don’t help things,” Lucy said loftily, taking Louis by the elbow and leading the way down the corridor. Rose followed, fuming.   
They found the Weasley-Potter compartment quickly and shuffled inside. Louis climbed over the cousins to sit beside Dom, who was next to the window and gabbing away with Molly about the Hufflepuff quidditch captain.   
The three second years squeezed in, closing the compartment door with some difficulty. The compartment was just as crowded as it had been the year before, with Louis filling the seat previously occupied by Vic. Rose found herself squashed between Fred and Albus, half sitting on both boys. Her annoyance at Lucy’s comments dissipated as she glanced around the compartment, overwhelmingly happy to be once again surrounded by her family.  
“Excited to be going back?” James asked loudly, elbowing Lucy, who sat next to him and pulling on her ponytail. “You won’t be ickle firsties anymore.”   
Lucy shrugged. “I don’t know,” she said. “Isn’t second year supposed to be rather difficult?”   
“All the years are difficult, Luce,” Dom said wryly, looking up from her conversation with Molly and wrinkling her nose. “It never gets easier.”   
“But it does get more interesting,” Molly added with a smile.   
Dom snorted and rolled her eyes. “And that’s why they made you prefect,” she grumbled. “Because you find school interesting.”   
“Are you saying you don’t find ancient runes fascinating?” Molly challenged, raising her eyebrows. “Because you talked my ear off for at least forty five minutes yesterday about how excited you were for N.E.W.T. level runes—“   
“Alright,” Dominique snapped, tossing her hair. “So I’m a bit excited for runes.”   
“You really like ancient runes?” Roxanne asked earnestly, turning to look at Dom. “Do you think you’ll try to work at Gringott’s like your dad, then? I heard him say once that anyone who likes runes should look into working there.”   
Dom flushed and looked down. “Er, I was thinking about it, yeah,” she said off-handedly. “Being a curse-breaker would be really exciting and—I don’t know.”   
“Well I want to be an auror like Vic,” James broke in, puffing his chest out as everyone turned their attention towards him. “I wanna catch dark wizards like my dad.”   
“What do you want to do, Molly?” Roxanne asked, rolling her eyes as James pretended to brandish a sword.   
“I’m not sure yet,” Molly replied. “I know Dad would love it if I worked for the ministry like him, but I got to talk to some healers from St. Mungo’s last year during career advising, and it sounded very interesting.”   
“It’d be nice to have a healer in the family,” Roxanne laughed. “We need someone to patch us all up when we get into trouble.”   
“Yes, there is something rather noble about healing others, isn’t there?” Molly mused. “I don’t know, though, I’ll have to discuss it some more with Professor Flitwick and the St. Mungo’s representatives. You know, I envy you sometimes, Roxie. You and Fred already know you’re going to work at the store after school, you don’t have to worry so much about grades and meeting recruiters and having an impressive resume.”   
“Yeah, it’s brilliant,” Roxanne said happily, leaning back with a smile and glancing at her older brother, whose face was rather blank. “Dad’s excited for Fred and I to join him, he never stops talking about how when we were little and Fred and I would try to work the cash register and direct customers to our favorite products.”   
Rose turned in her seat and looked up at Fred, who had a tight smile on his face. She furrowed her brow and put a hand nervously on his arm. He looked down at her, his brown eyes immediately crinkling into a genuine smile as he slid an arm around her shoulder.   
“Yeah, it’ll be fun working with Dad and Uncle Ron,” he said loudly, squeezing Rose’s arm. “And maybe if we’re lucky Rosie here will decide to join us.”   
Everyone laughed and the conversation turned to Louis and how he was feeling about going to school. When that was done and James had given Louis the obligatory “Sorting Scare” they settled down into listening to Dominique retell the story of her dad’s reaction when he heard Victoire was moving in with Teddy.   
“I won’t stand for this!” she bellowed, twisting her face into a snarl and pounding her fists on the table as Uncle Bill did when he was especially angry. “I will not stand for it, no no no!”   
They dissolved into peals of laughter as Dom continued to shout, waving her hands about madly.   
“Oh, it was fantastic,” she breathed at the end, wiping away a tear. “I wish you all had been there. Of course, once he calmed down and thought about it rationally he wasn’t so angry, just a bit sad. I think he and mum were hoping Vic would wait a few years before moving in with Ted but it’s not like they didn’t see it coming.”   
“I think we all saw it coming,” Molly said.   
“I didn’t!” James exclaimed. “I didn’t even know until Al said something about it.”   
“You didn’t even know they were together until you saw them snogging at the station last year,” Dominique said, flipping her hair over her shoulder.   
“Did you know before that?” James sputtered.   
“Obviously,” Dom answered. “They’d been flirting atrociously all summer, it was disgusting. I’m surprised more people didn’t figure it out sooner.”   
James opened and closed his mouth, gaping like a fish. He ran an agitated hand through his hair as he sat back.   
“Well, everyone knows now,” Molly said briskly. “And, more importantly, nobody objects.”   
Beside Rose, Fred snorted. “Of course nobody objects,” he said. “Vic could break Teddy in half if she wanted to and everybody knows it.”   
Molly’s face twisted in a smile and Dominique let out a chuckle.   
“I suppose you’re right,” Molly said. “Teddy is a bit—“   
“Soft?” Fred supplied. “I don’t think he could kill a bug.”   
“He can’t,” Dom laughed. “He takes them outside and releases them, says every living thing deserves a second chance.”   
Fred shook his head good-naturedly and squeezed Rose’s shoulder. She grinned and leaned back as the train rumbled through the countryside. 

When they pulled into Hogsmeade Station the cousins all filed out of the compartment. Dom kept a hand on Louis’ shoulder as they exited the train, pointing towards Hagrid, who was bellowing for first years. Louis’ eyes widened and he immediately turned back to his older sister, whispering frantically. Dom bent over and murmured something in her brother’s ear before giving him a hug and a kiss on the cheek and nudging him towards the boats.   
Louis was halfway to the boats when he paused and looked over his shoulder. Rose caught his eye and gave him an encouraging smile, remembering how frightened she had been the year before. And Louis didn’t have Albus and Lucy with him as she had. Her heart went out to her younger cousin as she flashed him a thumbs up. Louis offered a weak smile and continued down to the boats.   
“I hope he’s alright,” Dom fretted as the rest of the cousins meandered over to the carriages. “He’s all alone.”   
“He’ll be alright,” Molly said, putting an arm around Dom. “We should hurry if we want to get a carriage together, though.”   
They walked across the grass to a line of horseless carriages. While most of the front ones were already full of students, the ones towards the back remained empty.   
“Here,” James said, tugging Lucy’s sleeve to direct her towards the end of the line and helping her into one of the carriages. “Fred and Rose, you guys can join us in this one, Al and Roxie you two go with Dom and Molly.”   
They split up accordingly. After James and Lucy were seated Fred helped Rose into the carriage and then climbed in himself. He sat next to Rose and put his arm around her shoulder, grinning at her as the carriages began to roll forward.   
“How are they doing that?” Lucy demanded from beside James, whipping around the see the front of their carriage, which still had no horse pulling it. “Are they enchanted?”   
“Nah,” Fred assured her. “They’re pulled by thestrals, I read about them. Most people can’t see them.”   
Lucy’s eyes widened slightly and she turned back around and leaned against her seat. “They’re not—“ she began nervously, her eyes flitting from James to Fred, “they’re not dangerous, are they?”   
“Luce, do you really think the school would employ dangerous animals to pull the carriages?” James asked, raising an eyebrow.   
“I don’t know!” she cried defensively. “They keep all kinds of dangerous things in the Forbidden Forest!”  
“Yeah, but that’s forbidden,” Fred pointed out. “Don’t worry, Lucy, thestrals aren’t anything to be afraid of. Hagrid can tell you all about them sometime if you want.”   
At the mention of Hagrid Lucy’s eyes doubled in size and Fred seemed to immediately realize his error. “No, no,” he said quickly. “I know Hagrid likes a lot of dangerous things, Luce, but honestly, thestrals aren’t anything to worry about. Really, nothing’s going to happen.”   
“Are you sure?” she whispered.   
“Positive,” Fred said, reaching across the carriage and squeezing her knee. “And if anything were to happen James and I would fight them off for you.”   
“Absolutely,” James said enthusiastically, grinning at his cousin and ruffling her hair affectionately. “We are Gryffindors after all, we must defend our cousins and our honor!”   
Lucy giggled and relaxed, though for the remainder of the ride she turned around every few seconds to check the carriages remained horseless. 

The carriages rolled up to the front of the school and Fred got out first, helping Rose down and then moving aside for James to step out and help Lucy. Together, the four of them met up with the other cousins and they all entered the castle together.   
Rose smiled as she walked through the large oak doors. She remembered all too well her anxiety at this time last year, and how intimidating the front doors had seemed. Now they looked inviting, beckoning her in to reclaim her spot in the school.   
She walked through the Entrance Hall with her cousins. When they reached the Great Hall she waved goodbye to the four non-Ravenclaws and made her way to her house table, arm in arm with Lucy. They reached the Ravenclaw table, where they quickly found their roommates Maren Thomas and Allie Boot and sat down amid the cries of ‘hello!’   
Molly and Dom sat near them and Rose realized for the first time that Dom was now the oldest Weasley cousin at Hogwarts. It was strange, sitting down for dinner and not seeing Victoire anywhere. Dom seemed to be having similar thoughts as she looked around expectantly before biting her lip and folding her hands in her lap.   
The sorting began. Rose watched anxiously as nervous eleven-year-olds walked on wobbly legs to the three-legged stool and tried on the sorting hat. Louis was second to last in line, his strawberry blond head tilted towards the floor. The bit of his face that Rose could see looked slightly green.   
“Oh, I hope he’s in Ravenclaw,” Dom said, twisting a piece of hair around her finger and staring at her younger brother.   
“He’ll be okay no matter where he is,” Molly said reassuringly, putting an arm around Dom’s shoulders.   
“I know, but I would feel much better if he was with us,” Dom replied, her mouth twisting in worry as she continued to twirl her hair. “I know even if he is in Gryffindor the others will look after him, but it just won’t be the same.”   
Nobody had an answer to that and they watched silently as the line of first years dwindled. They clapped whenever someone was sorted into Ravenclaw and cheered when Simon Longbottom, Uncle Neville’s son and an honorary Weasley cousin, was sorted into Hufflepuff. Rose glanced at the staff table and saw Uncle Neville on his feet and clapping heartily, a large grin spreading over his face.   
At last there were only two first years left to be sorted and Professor McGonagall called “Weasley, Louis.” Rose watched as her cousin walked over to the stool and sat down. The sorting hat was dropped on his head and the four Weasleys held their breath as the rip near the brim opened wide and the hat screamed, “Hufflepuff!”   
The hall erupted in cheers and Dominique’s face fell slightly before she hastily rearranged it into a smile and stood up to cheer for her brother. The others followed suit, jumping to their feet and cheering as Louis walked slowly to the Hufflepuff table, looking slightly dazed.   
“Now we really do have a Weasley in every house at Hogwarts,” Lucy said when they sat back down.   
“I suppose we do,” Dom said. She still looked a bit disappointed, but a small smile crept onto her face as she watched Louis sit next to Simon Longbottom and begin talking. “At least the Hufflepuffs are a nice lot,” she said. “And he’ll have Simon there with him.”   
As Professor McGonagall put away the stool and the hat, Dominique got to her feet and hurried to the Hufflepuff table. Louis turned to greet his older sister as she approached and Dom bent down to give him a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek. Louis’ face split into a grin as he wrapped his arm around his sister. Rose smiled to herself, thinking that her French cousins really looked like the epitome of sibling love at the moment.   
Professor McGonagall reached her spot at the front of the staff table and Dominique gave her brother one last kiss and hurrying back to her seat as the headmistress began her speech.   
The feast went by merrily and everyone stuffed themselves with food. When finally the desserts disappeared from the table and Professor McGonagall dismissed them all to their common rooms Rose and Lucy jumped to their feet to try and beat the crowd pushing its way out of the Great Hall.   
Behind them Molly was standing up tall and calling out in her best imitation of Uncle Percy, “First years! First years follow me!”   
“Let’s go,” Rose muttered, taking Lucy’s arm and pushing through the crowd to the marble staircase. There they met Maren and Allie, who had left before them, and happily linked arms as they ascended the stairs.   
“I can only live where there is light, but die when light shines on me. What am I?” the eagle knocker prompted the girls when they arrived outside Ravenclaw Tower.   
“Er—“ all four looked blankly at each other. Rose screwed up her face and furrowed her brow. Something that needed light to live—but died in light? What?   
“The moon?” Allie guessed nervously.   
“That is incorrect,” the eagle knocker said. “Try again.”   
“Bullocks,” Maren grumbled, crossing her arms. “We’re rusty.”   
“What’s the riddle?” A new voice asked. They turned and saw Tommy and Scorpius had arrived at the tower, looking curiously at the stumped girls.   
The eagle knocker repeated the riddle and the two boys frowned thoughtfully.   
“Blimey, I dunno,” Tommy said. “Er, maybe—“   
“A shadow,” Scorpius said quietly, looking towards the knocker.   
There was a click and the door swung open. “Well done,” the eagle murmured. Maren, Allie and Lucy all smiled at Scorpius. Rose, too, felt the corners of her mouth curl up approvingly.   
Scorpius’ face had gone pink and he didn’t look at the girls as he hurriedly pushed through the door into the common room.   
“Thanks, Scorpius!” Allie said cheerfully.   
“Mhm,” he mumbled, making his way across the common room, not even bothering to turn around and acknowledge the praise properly. Rose rolled her eyes.   
The four girls trooped up to their dormitory where their trunks were already in place. Rose bent down and retrieved her books, shrunken by her mother and packed away in the corner of her trunk.   
“How many this year?” Lucy asked, eyeing the pile of small novels now lying on top of Rose’s bed.   
“Sixteen,” Rose said, trying not to flush. It had seen a perfectly reasonable number when she had been packing at home. After all, she needed her Chronicles of Narnia books, Charlotte’s Web, and her Anne of Green Gables books. But now it seemed ridiculous to bring sixteen books to school, and even more ridiculous considering they were all muggle novels.   
“Well you won’t get bored,” Lucy said, taking out her blue pajamas unfolding them carefully. “Are you going to get Dom to enlarge them?”   
“I suppose so,” Rose replied. “Since Vic isn’t here.”   
“That still seems so strange,” Lucy mused, now taking out a hairbrush and releasing her red hair from its ponytail. “It doesn’t seem right to be here and not see Vic.”   
“In a few years Dom won’t be here either,” Rose said as Lucy began to comb her hair. “And soon Molly won’t be either.”   
“It seems like it’s all going so fast, doesn’t it?” Lucy asked, sighing wistfully. “It seems like just yesterday we were all playing together at the Burrow and now we’re wondering about jobs we’ll have after school.”   
“Geez, Luce,” Rose laughed, putting an arm around her cousin and squeezing her. “You make it sound like we’re ancient. We’re only second years!”   
“I know,” Lucy sighed. “It’s just a bit scary, that’s all.”   
“We still have six years here,” Rose said. “And no matter what we’ll always have each other here, yeah?”   
“Of course,” Lucy smiled. “And Al.”   
Rose rolled her eyes dramatically and released Lucy. “That is if he doesn’t forget all about us by the time we leave school.”   
“Rosie!” Lucy exclaimed. “Don’t say that, you know he won’t! Just because he’s not in Ravenclaw—“   
“I’m kidding, Luce,” Rose said, putting a hand on her cousin’s shoulder. “I know he won’t forget about us. I’m gonna go find Dom and ask her to enlarge my books for me, I’ll be right back.”   
Lucy nodded and Rose traipsed out of the dormitory. She descended the spiral staircase and poked her head in the sixth year dormitory to find it empty. Rose sighed and made her way to the common room, where she found Dom sitting in an armchair writing a letter. A strange sense of déjà vu overcame Rose as she remembered finding Vic in nearly the exact same spot the year before. With a smile she wandered over to her cousin, poking her head over her shoulder.   
“Who’re you writing to?” she asked.   
“My mum,” Dominique said, showing no surprise at Rose’s presence. “Telling her about Louis’ sorting and the feast.”   
“D’you think your parents will mind him not being in Ravenclaw?” Rose asked.   
“No,” Dom shook her head, smiling. “They’ll be pleased. And really, once you think about it, Louis is an ideal Hufflepuff.”   
Rose grinned and nodded her head in agreement. Her younger cousin did have some very Hufflepuff-like traits, which Rose suspected was because Louis had idolized Teddy Lupin for years, and copied everything the older boy did. But even beyond that, the two of them both radiated kindness, always making sure everyone was included in family games and nobody was being picked on unfairly.   
“Do you need me to enlarge your books for you?” Dom asked with a smile, folding up her parchment and capping her ink bottle.   
“Er, yeah,” Rose mumbled, a bit unnerved that Dom had so easily guessed her reason for coming downstairs.   
“Let’s go, then,” Dom said, rising from the armchair and striding towards the spiral staircase. Rose followed her to the second year dormitory, where Lucy stood next to Rose’s bed.   
Dom walked over to the pile of books and waved her wand, so the pile grew as the novels expanded back to their original sizes.   
“Thanks, Dom,” Rose said, picking the books up and stacking them beside her bed.   
“Need anything else?” the blonde asked.   
Rose opened her mouth to say no, but before she could Lucy murmured, “Vic read to us last year.”   
Dom’s eyebrows flew up but her mouth curled into a smile as she looked from the book pile to her younger cousins. “I’m sure she did,” she said with a laugh, taking a seat on Rose’s bed. “I suppose I’ll read with you too, then, since Vic isn’t here. What’ll it be?”   
Rose, still bent over her stack of books, looked expectantly at Lucy, who merely shrugged as if to say it’s up to you. With a toss of her hair Rose selected Charlotte’s Web, one of her old favorites, and crawled onto her bed beside Dom and Lucy. 

Second year began much like first year. Rose took all the same classes and found, to her relief, that they were no more difficult than last year and she was able to get away with doing just as little work. She and Lucy continued their tradition of working with Albus and Nathan in the library every other evening and Rose always looked forward to spending time with her cousin and his friend. To make things even better, Scorpius Malfoy had so far refrained from accompanying them so she had not had to deal with his animosity outside the classroom.   
To Rose’s embarrassment she ran into Lysander Scamander on the second day of classes. He grinned and hugged her, apparently not noticing her scarlet face and senseless babbling as she tripped over her own foot and scurried away to charms.   
The first two weeks passed by in a haze of renewed responsibility and waning summertime warmth. Rose found herself staying up in the common room hurrying to finish assignments nearly every night, but it was worth it because she spent nearly every afternoon on the quidditch pitch with Fred or Dom practicing her keeping skills. Dom, the Ravenclaw quidditch captain, had scheduled tryouts for the last weekend in September. Rose worked tirelessly, determined to make the team, although Dom had already warned her that it would be difficult, as every member of last year’s team was still in school and would be intent on keeping their spots. Rose shrugged this off and talked ceaselessly to Lucy about quidditch prospects, until her usually soft-spoken cousin threatened to test out a bat-bogey hex if Rose didn’t shut up about the ruddy sport. 

At last the day arrived and Rose trooped down to the pitch after breakfast with her Nimbus 3500 on her shoulder and her stomach in knots. Once there, she stood by Dom and looked around with wide eyes at the large crowd who had shown up to compete for a spot on the house team.   
“Bloody hell,” Rose whispered.   
“It’s mad, isn’t it?” A voice said beside her. Rose whipped around and saw Maren Thomas standing beside her, a Comet 700 in her hand. On Maren’s other side stood Scorpius Malfoy, clutching a Nimbus and staring at the ground, not acknowledging Rose.   
“Good morning, everyone!” Dominique called, her voice magically magnified. The crowd quieted and all turned their attention to Dom, who was glancing around with narrowed eyes, sizing up the prospective players. “Right,” she said authoritatively. “First of all, if you’re here then you’re trying out for the Ravenclaw quidditch team. So if any of you aren’t seriously interested in playing, if you’re just looking for an excuse to fly around a bit, or if you’re not in Ravenclaw, just do me a favor and clear out now instead of wasting everyone’s time.”   
She paused and looked around with raised eyebrows. Two or three giggling students, who Rose didn’t recognize, turned to each other and then hurried away, laughing raucously as they went. Dominique watched them go for a minute and then shook her head, rolling her eyes. “Bloody Gryffindor wankers,” she muttered, apparently forgetting her voice was still magnified as she immediately flushed and straightened up. “Well,” she said quickly, quelling the titters from the crowd with a glare. “I’m assuming the rest of you are all Ravenclaws then. For any of you who don’t know, we do not have any vacant positions right now, as all last year’s players are returning. But, these tryouts are to make sure that we have the best possible players representing Ravenclaw on the pitch. So everyone know, whether you were on the team last year or not, your spot on the team will be decided based on your performance today. Is that clear?”   
There was a round of murmured assent and Dom smiled.   
“Lovely,” she said. “Well, to begin we’re going to take two laps around the pitch. If at any point you can’t keep up or need to stop for any reason, just descend and head on back to the castle. If anyone needs medical assistance, my cousin Molly is near the stands and will take care of you.”   
Rose turned in surprise to see Molly, sure enough, standing at the edge of the pitch with a book. She caught Rose’s eye and smiled, flashing a thumbs up.   
“Ready?” Dominique called.   
Rose hastily returned her attention to her cousin and swung a leg over her broom, preparing to kick off.   
“And…everybody up!”   
Two hours later found Rose on her broom in front of the goal posts, sweaty and out of breath, but excited. The pool of potential players had dwindled down to twenty, and she was one of them, along with Maren and Scorpius. After the two laps around the pitch, which had eliminated a dozen or so would-be quidditch players, Dom put everyone through nearly an hour of drills before finally sorting them according to position and running trials for each. There were ten potential chasers, including Maren and Scorpius, seven beaters, and three keepers. Rose looked to her left and right at the other two. One was Nicholas Ferntail, last year’s keeper who was a seventh year and so far, was ahead of Rose by one goal, having saved six in comparison to her five. The other was Milo Remington, a fourth year who had nearly fallen off his broom at one point but was only trailing Rose by one goal.   
They were down to the last few minutes of tryouts. Dom called for everyone’s attention and asked for six of the chaser hopefuls to line up by the goal posts. They complied, with Maren and Scorpius both in the queue.   
Dom shouted that each keeper would have two goals attempted on them. Their current standings had Nick saving six out of six, Rose saving five out of six, and Milo saving four out of six. After this drill whoever had the best record would win the spot.   
Nick went first. Rose and Milo both flew to the side of the goals so they were out of the way and hovered, watching intently. One of last year’s chasers zoomed towards Nick, the quaffle held safely under his arm. Nick floated in front of the center hoop, his knuckles white from gripping his broom handle so tightly. The chaser moved infinitesimally to the left before launching the quaffle towards the center hoop. One of Nick’s hands shot up off his broom handle as he turned so he was hovering vertically in the air, reaching up over his head and snatching the red ball, grinning triumphantly at the chaser.   
“Very good,” Dom called, nodding her head. “Ferntail is seven for seven. Rose, you’re up.”   
Shaking violently, Rose flew in front of the hoops. Nick passed her and gave her an encouraging smile before mouthing “Good luck.” Rose tried to smile back but it came out as more of a grimace.   
When she was positioned in front of the center hoop Rose sucked in a deep breath, willing herself not to look down. Her stomach tied itself in knots as she looked out towards the chaser whose job it was to score on her. She prayed it wasn’t Scorpius.   
It wasn’t. A burly fifth year who Rose had seen occasionally in the common room held the quaffle in his hand, flying leisurely towards her. Rose gripped the handle of her Nimbus and narrowed her eyes, her head clearing as she focused on the approaching chaser. What was it her dad always said? The secret to keeping was to just watch your opponent. Their face would give them away ninety percent of the time.   
The fifth year flew closer, zig zagging across the pitch and picking up speed as he went. Rose kept her eyes trained on his face, watching as his gaze flitted from the right post to the left. His nose twitched. His bottom lip curled back and snagged under one of his front teeth. His eyes landed on the hoop to Rose’s left and stayed there for a moment, as he flew to the right.   
Rose shifted her body to the left as discreetly as she could and waited. Her body buzzed as the chaser came nearer. She felt her heart pound in her chest—any moment now.   
The chaser moved to the left at the last second and threw the quaffle. As soon as it left his hand Rose leaned to the left and felt her broom move with her, carrying her to the quaffle, which she grabbed easily. Her mouth split into a triumphant grin as she turned to the line of chasers.   
“Great job, Rose!” Maren, who was next up in line, called.   
“Thanks!” Rose replied as she tossed the quaffle across the pitch to her roommate. She flew back to the side, where Nick Ferntail was hovering, looking rather impressed.   
“That was damn good, Weasley,” he said.  
Rose smiled and turned to watch Milo, who didn’t manage to save Maren’s goal. Dom shook her head sympathetically and suggested they go in reverse order for the second try, so Milo could get his over with. A small fourth year girl got the quaffle past him that time and Milo returned to the ground looking thoroughly dejected.   
“Just you and me, Weasley,” Nick said with a grin, patting Rose on the shoulder. “Best of luck.”   
Rose nodded and then realized with a start it was her turn now. If she made this save and Nick missed his, they’d be tied.   
A seventh year girl held the quaffle as Rose took her place in front of the hoops. She swallowed her nerves and focused on the girl’s face as she flew. Unlike the fifth year boy, this girl didn’t go in a zig zag pattern, but rather flew straight at Rose, her eyes narrowed in determination.   
Rose looked at the chaser’s hands and saw them begin to turn, ever so slightly, to the right. The girl continued to hurtle towards her and when she was within scoring distance Rose leaned over and shot to the right at the exact moment the quaffle left the girl’s hand. Out of the corner of her eye Rose could see the girl’s shocked expression and she grinned to herself, leaning forward as she scooped the quaffle out of the air.   
“Excellent, Rosie!” Dom cried, forgetting to appear unbiased for a moment as she flew over and ruffled her cousin’s hair.   
Rose flushed and grinned, handing Dom the quaffle and flying back to the hoops. “Good luck!” she called to Ferntail, feeling much lighter and friendlier now that she had successfully saved the goal.   
Nick grinned and took his place in front of the hoops. Rose turned to see which chaser would be attempting to score on him and saw that it was Scorpius who held the quaffle.   
Nick swayed on his broom slightly, watching Scorpius as the blond flew towards the hoops, weaving through the air with ease. Rose watched as Scorpius flew to the right, then turned sharply and threw the quaffle towards the left hoop. Nick, who had moved to the right a second ago, shot across the air and leaned over the edge of his broom towards the red ball. For a moment Rose thought he was going to fall but a moment later Nick straightened up, his face shining with sweat and satisfaction as he held up the quaffle.   
“Alright,” Dom called, smiling. “That’s that, then, Nick you’re back on the team. Rosie, great job today,” she gave Rose a sympathetic smile, “maybe next year.”   
Rose nodded, feeling a lump rise in her throat and tears well up in her eyes as she pointed her broom towards the ground descended.   
She hadn’t made it.   
All those hours spent outside with her dad and Aunt Ginny, all those evenings she had passed with Al discussing strategies. All the times she had hung on to her dad and Uncle Harry’s stories about their time on the Gryffindor quidditch team. All for nothing.   
She vaguely heard Dom calling out the final decisions for chasers and beaters but Rose didn’t care. Red curls that had come loose from her ponytail whipped around her face and Rose’s feet touched down on the ground just as her vision began to blur. She stood still for a moment and let the tears pour down her cheeks until a hand tentatively touched her shoulder.   
“Hey,” Maren said, giving her a small smile and wrapping her arm around Rose’s shoulder. “It’s alright. Scorpius and I didn’t make it either. We’ll all try out again next year, though, and make the team then, yeah?”   
“Mhm,” Rose mumbled in a wobbly voice, pushing one of her filthy sleeves around her face to try and soak up the embarrassing tears.   
“We’ll use this year to practice,” Maren said reassuringly.   
Rose nodded and dropped her head again, staring at the ground until Dom’s voice came from behind her. “Rosie?”   
Maren’s arm left Rose’s shoulder and was replaced by Dom’s, as she wrapped Rose in a hug. “I’m sorry, Rosie, I know you wanted to be on the team.”   
“S’alright,” Rose muttered into her cousin’s shoulder. “He was better.”   
“And hey,” Dom said, pulling away and tilting Rose’s chin up, “we’ll practice this year and over holidays so that next year, when Nick’s graduated, you’ll be the best damn keeper in the school, alright?”   
“Okay,” Rose said in a thick voice, trying and failing to smile.   
“Let’s get back up to the castle then,” Dom said, nudging Rose forward.   
They walked across the pitch and to the walkway, where Molly joined them and offered Rose a sympathetic hug. “Don’t worry about it, sweetheart,” she said in a voice that sounded eerily like Grandma Molly’s, “you’re only a second year and you were in the top two. In a year or two you’ll be on the team and the best keeper at Hogwarts.”   
Rose managed a genuine, if small, smile at this and put an arm around each of her cousins.   
“Maren said she’d practice with me too,” she said.   
“Good,” Dom replied, tucking a piece of hair behind Rose’s ear. “So I’ll have a good chaser and keeper next year.”   
They walked back to the castle, arms around each other. About halfway there Rose realized she knew the voices coming from behind her. She turned to see Scorpius and Maren in the middle of a conversation, both sweaty and dirty from hours of playing.   
“We’ll make it next year,” Maren said enthusiastically, grinning.   
Scorpius nodded. “I hope so,” he said. “Would—would you want to practice with me sometime? It’d help if I had someone other than Tommy to play with.”   
“Of course!” Maren exclaimed. “This is perfect, usually I have to try and make Allie play with me and she’s absolutely dreadful—“   
Rose turned back around, the smile completely wiped from her face. She didn’t know why, but suddenly tears were welling up in her eyes again. She swallowed heavily and blinked, clenching her jaw as she continued walking with her cousins. It didn’t matter to her whether or not her classmates practiced without her. Not at all. 

When they reached the castle and had made their way back to Ravenclaw Tower Rose detached herself from her cousins and took a long shower. She stood under the hot water and let it wash the sweat and grime from her skin as she cried freely one last time, grateful that the sound was masked by running water.   
When her tears ran dry and her fingers resembled small white prunes Rose stepped out of the bathroom and dressed quickly, toweling her hair off and letting it dry in a wild, knotty red mess as she collapsed on her bed.   
“Do you want me to braid it for you?” Lucy’s voice asked quietly from the adjacent bed.   
Rose started. She had thought she was alone in the dormitory. She stayed still for a moment and then nodded her head against the mattress, hoping that was enough of an answer.   
She heard the creak of mattress springs and then a soft thud as Lucy’s bare feet hit the floor of the dormitory and padded across the carpet.   
“You know you have to sit up for me to braid your hair, Rosie,” Lucy said softly as she climbed onto Rose’s bed.   
With a groan Rose sat up and sat cross-legged on her bed. Without a word Lucy moved behind her and set to work brushing the knots out of Rose’s hair.   
“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked as she brushed a section of hair, gently working out a tangle.   
“No,” Rose sighed. “Ferntail was just better than me.”   
“Dom said he only beat you by one save,” Lucy said, throwing a lock of neatly brushed hair over Rose’s shoulder and starting on another. “And he’s a seventh year.”   
“He still beat me,” Rose grumbled, trying to keep the whine out of her voice. “He’s on the team and I’m not.”   
“Rosie,” Lucy said slowly, tugging a particularly stubborn knot through the hairbrush. “You don’t always have to be the best at everything, you know. It’s alright if you have to wait a bit and actually work hard for things sometimes.”   
“I did work hard!” Rose cried, stung by her cousin’s words. “I worked hard all last year and all bloody summer!”   
“It’s not the end of the world that you have to work a bit harder,” Lucy said, finally managing to break through the tangle. “You know anyone else would have loved to make it to the final two, and against a seventh year no less.”   
“Well I’m not anyone else,” Rose said grumpily.   
“No you’re not,” Lucy agreed. “And that’s just the problem, isn’t it? You’re Rose Weasley. You can do everything without even trying.”   
“That’s not true,” Rose argued, furrowing her brow. “I do try.”   
“Not as hard as everyone else has to,” Lucy responded evenly, setting the brush down on the bed and dividing Rose’s hair into sections. “Everything comes much easier to you than it does to other people.”   
“I’m still allowed to be upset,” Rose said, crossing her arms in agitation.   
“I never said you weren’t,” Lucy said as she pulled the sections of hair around each other. “Of course you’re allowed to be upset. But it’s not the end of the world, Rosie. You’ll make the team next year for sure, since Ferntail is leaving this year, you have to know that. And in the meantime you can still practice with Dom and Fred.”   
“I suppose,” Rose conceded, dropping her arms. “I just really thought I could make it this year.”   
“I know you did,” Lucy said gently, tying off the end of the plait and patting Rose’s hair affectionately. “But you’re still one of the best quidditch players I know, Rose Minerva Weasley.”   
Rose smiled and turned around, wrapping her arms around Lucy and squeezing her. “Thanks, Luce,” she said quietly.   
“Anytime,” Lucy replied, returning the embrace. 

Rose and Lucy stayed in the dormitory until dinner. When it was time to eat, they walked into the Great Hall together, Rose feeling considerably lighter than she had earlier. They had just spotted Maren and Allie and headed over to the Ravenclaw table when someone slammed into Rose, nearly bowling her over.   
“ImadetheteamI’mthenewseeker!” Albus’ voice shouted in her ear as he lifted her up in a hug.   
“What?” Rose asked, wiggling out of her cousin’s arms to catch a glimpse of his face. Albus’ mouth was stretched wide in a grin and his green eyes shone as he beamed at her, squeezing her tightly again and bobbing up and down with joy.   
“I made the Slytherin quidditch team, Rosie! I’m the new seeker! Oh, Dad’s gonna be so happy and now James and I are both on quidditch teams and this is the best day of my life!”   
“O—oh,” Rose choked out, her stomach dropping as she took in Albus’ words. Hastily pasting a smile on her face, she wrapped her arms around him and let out a loud and somewhat forced, “Congratulations! I’m so proud of you, Al, that’s wonderful!”   
“I’m the new seeker!” he cried, sounding as though he couldn’t quite believe it. “I’m the new Slytherin seeker!”   
“So you said,” Rose said, trying very hard to keep her face arranged in a smile as Albus’ words hit her like a beater’s bat in the stomach.   
“And now we can play against each other in real school matches, though I suppose since I’m a seeker and you’re keeper we won’t be near each other all that much, but still, it’ll be brilliant—“   
“Er, what?” Rose asked, her head whipping up to look at Albus. “Al—“   
“I overhead Dom saying you did brilliantly in tryouts!” he said, pulling Rose back in for a hug. “Oh, and our parents can come for matches too, and watch us play, I’ve already owled my mum and told her the news I’m sure she’ll be thrilled—“   
“Al—“   
“Especially after all the time you two spent playing over the summer, and I’m sure your dad will be excited—“   
“Albus Severus Potter!” Rose screeched, pulling away from him quickly and frowning, the tears from earlier threatening to make a reappearance. “Stop!” Rose cried, hoping she didn’t look too pathetic.   
Albus looked at her with an innocent, bewildered expression that made Rose want to shake him.   
“I didn’t make the team,” Rose said quietly, tears burning behind her eyes.   
Albus’ eyes widened and his face crinkled in confusion. “What?” he asked dumbly.   
“I. Didn’t. Make. The. Team.” Rose said through gritted teeth, looking down at her shoes and biting her lip. “Nick Ferntail is the Ravenclaw keeper.”   
“But—but Dom said—and you’re—“ Albus sputtered, looking around wildly.   
“I did well in tryouts but Ferntail did better,” Rose said in what she hoped was a level voice, chewing the inside of her cheek.   
“I—oh, Merlin, I’m sorry, Rosie—“   
“It’s alright,” Rose whispered, fighting back tears once again. “I just—can we not talk about it here?”   
“Yeah, yeah, of course,” Albus said quickly, flushing as he put an arm around Rose’s shoulder and walked with her to the Ravenclaw table. When they arrived Rose slid into the seat Lucy had saved for her. Across the table, Scorpius looked up at Al’s arrival and smiled.   
“I heard you’re the new Slytherin seeker,” he said, standing up and extending a hand. “Congratulations.”   
“Thank you,” Albus said, returning the smile. “Dominique said you made a good show of it this morning at tryouts. Better luck next year, mate.”   
“Yeah,” Scorpius said, with a small shrug. “I’ll have to keep practicing. My dad’ll be happy to hear I’m friends with the Slytherin seeker, at least.”   
“Your father was a seeker, wasn’t he?” Rose asked, turning to look at him, unsure why she was trying to initiate conversation with Scorpius in the first place.   
“Er,” he glanced at her disdainfully, his tone much colder than it had been just a second ago. “Yes. He was.”   
“That’s—“ Rose began, but Albus cut her off.  
“Anyways, I’m sure you’ll make the team next year,” he said warmly, putting a hand on Rose’s shoulder and squeezing. “I’d best be off though. Rosie, Lucy, d’you want to meet in the library later to work on that transfiguration essay?”   
“Sure,” Lucy chirped.   
Rose nodded, too busy eyeing Scorpius Malfoy to offer a verbal reply. The blond boy had turned back to his plate after the display of sportsmanship and had not looked up again. Resentment built up in Rose’s chest and she thought she would like nothing more than to take out her wand and hex him, because he was perfectly nice to Albus, because he still wouldn’t look up from his bloody plate and meet her eye, and because maybe if he had thrown the quaffle a little further to the left Nick Ferntail wouldn’t have caught it and Rose would be the Ravenclaw keeper.   
Albus walked away, still bouncing merrily and Rose deflated, the anger leaving her in a quick gush as she sighed heavily and looked away from Scorpius. She heaped mashed potatoes onto her plate and listened to Lucy talk animatedly about the new theory they were learning in charms. Scorpius didn’t look in her direction for the remainder of the meal and Rose ignored him. It didn’t bother her that Scorpius Malfoy was perfectly decent to everyone except her. It didn’t.


	5. Chapter 5

Autumn at Hogwarts fluttered by as Rose and her classmates settled into the familiar school routine. Classes picked up and Rose found her pile of homework growing steadily, though she still managed to get away with doing as little work as possible, something which irritated Albus and Lucy to no end.   
“This isn’t bloody fair!” Albus burst out one evening in the library, throwing his quill down in frustration and glaring at Rose, who was folding a piece of parchment into an origami swan.   
“What?” she asked, looking up in confusion.   
Albus’ scowl darkened and he brushed a piece of hair from his forehead. “How can you possibly be done with this essay?” he demanded, gesturing rather violently towards the parchment in front of him.   
Rose shrugged and turned back to her paper bird. “It wasn’t very difficult,” she said off handedly. “I did it this morning in history of magic.”   
“You were supposed to be taking our notes!” Lucy cried next to her, whipping up and also glaring at Rose.   
“I did take notes,” Rose said, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “But Binns talked about that bloody Goblin Rebellion of 1648 for nearly fifteen minutes and there’s only so much information to write down for that.”   
“You did your essay in fifteen minutes?” Albus asked quickly, his expression melting from anger to mild admiration.   
“It was probably less than fifteen minutes,” Rose murmured, with a shrug. She tapped the paper bird with her wand so it turned blue, turning it around and eyeing her handiwork. “I did have to write down the dates and names for that goblin rebellion.”   
“You did the essay in less than fifteen minutes, then?” Albus asked, his eyebrows rising. He looked almost impressed.   
Rose shrugged again and tapped the bird one more time with her wand so that it flew around them on its own accord. “It wasn’t very difficult,” she said, watching her paper bird soar across the table.   
“Blimey,” Nathan Nott said in awe, finally looking up from his notes and staring across the table at Rose with undisguised admiration. “I’ve been working on it for an hour and I’m not even halfway done.”   
Rose threw Nathan a grin, but caught Lucy frowning out of the corner of her eye. Not wishing to aggravate her cousin, Rose turned her attention back to her swan, which sailed gracefully above them.  
“This is bullocks,” Albus grumbled, picking up his quill and turning back to his parchment with a huff. “Why is everything so easy for you, Rosie? It’s not fair.”   
“Not potions,” Rose pointed out quickly, now directing the origami bird with her wand so it flew in figure eights around their heads. “I’m terrible at potions.”   
“You’re only terrible at the practical bit and that’s because you can’t be bothered to read directions,” Lucy said, turning a page of her charms textbook and rolling her eyes. “Honestly, Rose, if anyone else put as little work into school as you they would be failing right now, and somehow you’re top of the class. I’m with Al on this one; it’s not fair.”   
“You say that as though you’re not right behind her, Lucy,” Nathan chuckled, glancing up and catching Lucy’s eye.   
Lucy blushed and hurriedly looked back down at her book. “That’s not true,” she said. “Scorpius is right behind her.”   
“So then you’re third,” Nathan replied, raising an eyebrow. “Which is still very impressive.”  
Lucy’s flush deepened and she tugged nervously at the ends of her hair but didn’t look up. “I suppose I am,” was all she said.   
Nathan smiled at her for another moment and then returned to his homework. For a minute the only sound between the four second years was the scratching of quills and rustling of parchment. Rose continued to direct her paper swan around their corner of the library, grinning to herself as the bird swooped and ducked around the tables and chairs.   
“Hello, you lot,” the cheerful voice of Tommy Greengrass called, announcing his arrival.   
Rose looked up and groaned to herself when she saw her housemate walking towards them, carrying his schoolbag and trailed, of course, by Scorpius Malfoy.   
“Hi, Tommy,” Nathan greeted him, jumping up and pushing two extra chairs in the space between Rose and Lucy. Tommy swung his bag on the table and dropped in the seat beside Lucy. Rose grimaced and watched as Scorpius eyed the chair between his cousin and Rose as though he were afraid it would attack him. After a moment’s hesitation he bit his lip and sank down, keeping his eyes on Nathan.   
“How’re you, Scorp?” Nathan asked, returning almost immediately to his essay. “I haven’t seen you in ages.”   
“You saw me at breakfast this morning,” Scorpius responded, pulling out his transfiguration book. “But I’m alright; I got a letter from home today.”   
“Anything interesting?” Nathan asked, looking up expectantly.   
Scorpius shrugged. “Not really,” he said. His silver eyes flitted towards Rose for a moment before he leaned forward added quietly, “But—my—er—my grandfather’s ill.”   
“Oh,” Nathan said, a strange expression crossing his face. He frowned at Scorpius. “I’m sorry, Scorp—“  
“That’s awful,” Lucy said, leaning over Tommy to pat Scorpius on the shoulder, her brown eyes wide with concern. “I’m so sorry.”   
Scorpius shrugged again and kept his eyes plastered on his textbook. “S’alright,” he muttered, fidgeting with his quill. “I really don’t know him that well.”   
“It’s still terrible,” Albus said, giving Scorpius a sympathetic look across the table. “Sorry about it, mate.”   
Rose could feel Albus and Lucy’s eyes land on her expectantly and she bent down quickly, rummaging through her school bag. She wasn’t good at being comforting with people she liked, let alone with aggravating boys who pretended she didn’t exist. What in the world did they want her to say here?   
At the other end of the table Lucy cleared her throat as Uncle Percy did when he was waiting for someone to speak.   
Rose ignored her cousin and continued digging in her bag, finally pulling out a piece of parchment with her half-finished potions essay on it. That would work for a distraction.  
Lucy cleared her throat once again and Rose looked down the table to see her cousin glaring at her. Rose scowled and Lucy jerked her head slightly as if to say get on with it. Rose folded her arms and pursed her lips. Lucy narrowed her eyes and sent Rose a glare that would have made Grandma Molly proud, taking out her wand and laying it on the table next to her book.   
Rose sighed and uncrossed her arms, remembering that Lucy had mastered Aunt Ginny’s infamous bat bogey hex over the summer. Admitting defeat, Rose took a deep breath and turned in her seat so she faced Scorpius. “Er,” she said awkwardly, feeling her face heat up as he turned to her with a raised eyebrow. “That—that’s—erm—too bad about your grandfather, Malfoy.”   
Scorpius’ eyebrows raised infinitesimally and he stared at her as though unable to determine whether she was joking or not. Rose stared back, silently daring him to accuse her of taking the mick out of his ill grandfather.   
After a moment Scorpius broke the stare, inclining his head slightly and mumbling something that sounded like “thank you” before burying his head in his transfiguration book.   
Rose rolled her eyes and picked up her quill, rereading what she had already written of the essay. Across the table Lucy smiled approvingly and began asking Nathan questions about their charms homework. Scorpius Malfoy kept his head bent over his transfiguration, not even sparing a glance in Rose’s direction.

October flew by at an alarming rate. On the weekend of Halloween Rose joined the rest of her cousins at the first quidditch match of the year, which was Slytherin vs. Hufflepuff and Albus Potter’s first school match. The cousins, even James, all wore green and shouted themselves hoarse, cheering wildly when Al edged out the Hufflepuff seeker and caught the snitch, securing a 210-90 victory for Slytherin. Rose ran up and hugged her cousin after the match, ignoring the bitterness gnawing at her and focusing instead on the dazed grin on Al’s face. That night at dinner James and Fred managed to enchant every plate in the Great Hall to read in glowing letters: Potter is the King, a suggestion of Uncle George’s Rose had no doubt, much to their amusement and Al’s mortification. 

The last of autumn’s residual warmth disappeared as November brought chilly winds and the promise of snow. It was now too cold to spend free afternoons on the grounds, even with mittens and a cloak, and so Rose found herself often curled up in an armchair with a book in front of the fireplace in the common room.   
She was thus occupied one Saturday afternoon in the middle of November. The Ravenclaw common room was nearly deserted; there was a Hogsmeade visit that day and so most of the older students had gone to the village. Lucy, Allie and Maren had gone to the library to do schoolwork. They had invited Rose but she had waved them off, wanting to spend the afternoon flipping idly through Anne’s House of Dreams for the third time.   
Rose tucked her feet underneath her legs and sank lower into the armchair, letting her head rest against the side. Her red hair spilled over the upholstery in a tangled mess and the jumper she wore, an oversized hand-me-down from James, fell almost to her knees. With a contented sigh she snuggled deeper into the soft, knitted wool and thumbed through her novel.   
Rose read a few pages, smiling as she thought of Anne and Gilbert, and their beautiful love story and the lovely little world they lived in. She sat back and watched the fire for a moment, wondering vaguely if stories like Anne and Gilbert’s could be found in real life, if one day she, Rose Weasley, would be walking into her very own house of dreams with the man she loved.   
A crash echoed around the common room and jarred Rose from her thoughts. She whipped around to see a group of scared first years standing amid a mess of broken ceramic pieces. Rose furrowed her brow and began to stand up to ask what happened, when a movement in her peripheral vision made her stop.   
Scorpius Malfoy, who had been working silently at a small table on the other side of the common room, walked over to the first years and bent down over the ceramics, assessing the damage.   
“Was this something important?” he asked quietly, looking up at one of the first years, a small girl with brown hair and glasses.   
“N-no,” she stammered, still staring nervously at the mess before her. “We—we were trying to make our own chess pieces. My dad sent me a kit and they’d just finished drying and we were bringing them back up to our room and Jessie tripped.”   
“I’m sorry!” squeaked a different little girl, who Rose guessed was Jessie.  
“It’s alright,” Scorpius said, giving the girls a small smile. He took out his wand and waved it over the ceramic pieces, muttering an incantation. The shards rose and reassembled into chess pieces. Rose watched as Scorpius then took a handkerchief from his pocket and tapped it with his wand, transfiguring the cloth into a small bag. “Why don’t you use this to carry them upstairs?” he said, handing the bag to the girls.   
The first years thanked him and bent down to pack away their chess pieces. Scorpius nodded and stood up, walking slowly back to his table and sitting down without a word.   
Rose sat back in her seat and watched the fire crackle as the first year girls moved up the spiral staircase. She peered over the side of the armchair and saw Scorpius bent once again over a thick textbook, absorbed in his work.   
After a moment’s hesitation, Rose stood up and walked over to the small table. Scorpius didn’t look up as she approached. In fact, even when she stood less than a foot away from him he remained hunched over his textbook, not even glancing at her.   
“Ahem,” she cleared her throat.   
His eyes flickered towards her, but otherwise he didn’t move.   
“Malfoy,” she tried again.   
This time he picked his head up. Moving stiffly, like a marionette, he turned to face her, his pale eyebrows shooting upwards.   
“Er, that was nice what you did over there,” Rose said, her face flushing. Why had she come over here again?   
Slowly, he nodded his head, one eyebrow still raised warily. “Thank you, Weasley,” he said coolly before returning to his work.  
Rose stood there dumbly for a minute, her irritation rising at his cold dismissal. She opened her mouth to say something more, but Malfoy looked up again.   
“Did you need anything else?” he asked, still watching her as though she might attack at any moment.   
Rose gritted her teeth and forced out a curt “no,” before turning on her heel and stalking back to her armchair. She sat down, seething inwardly.   
The stupid, ugly, uptight, arrogant, entitled, self-centered…  
She ran through every rude name in her arsenal, applying them to Scorpius Malfoy and imagined hexing him. This relieved a bit of her anger, and with a disgruntled sigh Rose picked up her book again. In a few minutes she forgot her annoyance as the Ravenclaw common room melted away into Anne Shirley’s lovely, picturesque world where there was no Scorpius Malfoy to irritate her.   
Nearly an hour passed before Rose was interrupted by a sharp pinch on her shoulder.   
“Ow!” she yelped, jerking back and glaring up to find Lucy leaning over her shoulder.   
“Sorry,” Lucy shrugged. “I tried saying your name, but you didn’t hear me.”   
“You didn’t have to rip my skin off,” Rose grumbled.   
“Oh, stop being dramatic,” Lucy said, rolling her eyes and hiking her bag up on her shoulder. “Anyways, the reason I was trying to get your attention is that Fred’s waiting out in the corridor, says he wants to see you.”   
Rose frowned. “Why isn’t he in Hogsmeade?” she asked. “He and James were talking about visiting Uncle George—“   
“I don’t know,” Lucy said.   
“You don’t think something’s wrong, do you?” Rose asked, her eyes widening as a thousand terrifying scenarios flooded her mind. “What if—“   
“Rosie, I’m sure everything’s fine,” Lucy said quickly. “He didn’t look upset. And if something had happened I’m sure everyone would be back by now and not just Fred.”   
“Right,” Rose said, sliding her feet out from under her and standing up slowly, shaking out her cramped muscles.   
Lucy smiled and trotted over to the staircase leading to the dormitories and Rose shuffled across the common room to the door. She swung it open and saw Fred leaning on the stone wall, two bottles of butterbeer clutched in his hands.   
“Rosie!” he cried when he saw her. She was still holding her book, wearing leggings, her oversized sweater, and wool socks. She hadn’t even put on shoes.   
“What are you doing here?” Rose asked with a laugh as Fred threw an arm around her, steering her away from the common room. “And where are we going? Wait…Fred, I’m not dressed to go walking through the castle!”   
“You’re dressed fine,” Fred said, grinning down at her. “And to answer your question, I came back early. Thought I’d spend some time with my favorite cousin.”   
He led her across the seventh floor, taking a few shortcuts, until they rounded a corner and stood in front of a portrait of an extremely fat lady wearing a pink dress.   
“Where are we?” Rose asked, eyeing the portrait cautiously.   
“Oh, I forgot you’ve never been here before,” Fred said, smiling at her sheepishly. “This is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room.”   
Rose looked up again at the portrait, her eyes wide before glancing back at her cousin. What would they have to do to get in? It was Gryffindor, after all, and they were supposed to be brave. Would Fred have to fight something? Would he have to answer some sort of moral question asked by the portrait? Would Rose have to fight something or someone to prove she was worthy of entering?   
“Password, dear?” the fat lady asked.   
“Gurdyroot,” Fred said. The portrait swung open and Fred gently nudged Rose inside. She continued staring at the portrait hole, unable to help the disdainful expression on her face.   
“That’s it?” she demanded as she climbed through. “You just have to remember a password?”   
Fred chuckled and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s it,” he said. “Sorry to disappoint you.”   
Rose rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything more as they entered the Gryffindor common room. She looked around with wide eyes, taking it all in. Although her cousins had come up to Ravenclaw Tower a few times last year, this was her first time being in another house’s common room.   
Gryffindor’s common room was very similar to Ravenclaw’s, although the décor was red instead of blue and there was more furniture crammed in so the room felt smaller and cozier, less airy than Ravenclaw. Like Ravenclaw’s, it was nearly deserted. Fred took Rose by the elbow and led her over to a squashy couch right next to the roaring fireplace.   
Rose collapsed on the cushions and Fred dragged a small table over towards them. When that was done he sank down beside her and handed her one of the butterbeers.   
“I feel like I never see you, Rosie,” he said as he put his feet up on the table and took a swig from his drink. “How are you?”   
“I’m alright,” Rose said, following Fred’s example and taking a large gulp from her own bottle, smiling as the warm liquid coursed through her. Realizing she still had her book in her hand, she set it on the table and turned to her cousin.  
“How’re classes going?” Fred asked. “Still top of the class?”   
“In everything except potions,” Rose replied, puffing out her chest and smiling proudly.   
“That’s my girl,” Fred laughed, putting an arm around her. “The smartest one in the family. And don’t worry too much about potions, there are loads of brilliant people who are rubbish at it.”   
“I know,” Rose sighed, taking another sip of her drink and leaning against her cousin. “But it would be nice to be top in everything.”   
Fred chuckled and squeezed Rose’s shoulder. “You don’t have to be the best at everything, Rosie,” he said.   
“I’d still like to be,” she grumbled.   
“Nah,” Fred replied, grinning down at her. “That’s no fun.”   
“It would be fun!” Rose said hotly. “I’d be top in every class!”   
“But who cares about that?” Fred asked, raising an eyebrow. “Other than you and your parents,” he added when Rose opened her mouth to answer.   
She scowled at him.   
“Nobody really cares if you’re top in everything, Rosie,” Fred continued, twisting a piece of her hair around his finger. “It’s bloody impressive enough you’re top in every class but one. And really,” he gave her a pointed look and tugged gently at her hair, “it’s better to work hard in the subjects you actually like and find interesting, than to kill yourself trying to be excellent in the ones you don’t care about.”   
Rose didn’t answer and sat still for a moment. Fred continued twisting her hair, deep in thought.   
“Remember when we were little and your dad would bring you to work with him at Wheezes?” he asked after a moment.   
“Mhm,” Rose mumbled, nodding her head against his shoulder.   
“Sometimes I miss that,” Fred said, tilting his head so he was looking at the fire and not at her. “We could just spend hours in the shop together, just you, me and Roxie. And we would play cashier and try to prank our dads. And I remember one day a customer made you cry and I took you to the back and we played with pygmy puffs for an hour until you felt better. You know, I think that’s when I really started to look at you like a little sister, not just a cousin.”   
“Aw, Freddie,” Rose said, giggling as he cringed at the nickname she hadn’t used in years. Her heart swelled as she looked up at her cousin, who really was more like a big brother than anything.   
Fred set his butterbeer down on the table and wrapped Rose in a hug, tucking her head underneath his chin. “And really, Rosie, it doesn’t matter to anyone but you whether you’re top in every class. Everyone’s already so proud of you; I know I am.”   
“Thank you,” Rose murmured, smiling as Fred squeezed her tighter. They stayed like that for a minute, neither speaking, until Rose tilted her head up to look at her cousin’s face. “Fred?” she asked.   
“Yeah?”   
“You’re my favorite cousin, you know.”   
“What about Albus and Lucy?”   
“Oh, er—“ Rose faltered.   
Fred chuckled and released her, picking up his butterbeer once again. “I know what you mean,” he said. “And you’re my favorite cousin too.”   
They spent the rest of the afternoon in the Gryffindor common room. Rose told Fred about her Anne of Green Gables books and how lovely they were. Fred talked about care of magical creatures and how they were beginning to study unicorns and he would try to find a way for them to sneak out one night so he could show them to her.   
Rose laughed and nodded enthusiastically. She loved it when she got to spend time with Fred. Too often now the only times she got to see him there were other cousins there too.   
All too soon the afternoon light faded into dusk and students began returning from Hogsmeade. James and Roxanne climbed through the portrait hole and ran over to Rose, ruffling her hair affectionately as they told her about their day in the village. Fred gave her one last smile as he picked up her empty butterbeer bottle and suggested they all go down to dinner together. 

The rest of the term flew by and before anyone knew it, Christmas holidays were upon them. The Burrow was already humming with activity when Rose walked in the front door. Grandma Molly rushed from the kitchen to give everyone a hug before exclaiming about not having enough help in the kitchen due to Victoire’s absence.   
“I’ll help,” Rose said, trying to force a smile on her face. She was dreadful at cooking and everyone knew it, but it felt right to offer all the same.   
“No, no, dear, that’s quite alright,” Grandma Molly said, patting Rose on the cheek and smiling. “I’ll ask Albus to help me, he’s surprisingly good in the kitchen.” 

The holidays started off as they always did, with everyone milling about the house and trying to catch up and asking questions and telling stories. To Rose’s irritation Albus seemed to be physically incapable of talking about anything other than quidditch. She tried to grin and nod along with the adults, who were all excited about having another seeker in the family, but after Albus started describing tryouts for the third time, Rose’s patience wore thin and she excused herself to the room she shared with Lily and Lucy.   
Rose deposited herself on the bed she and Lily shared and tried valiantly to get ahold of her rising jealousy and anger. It wasn’t fair of her to be annoyed with Albus; he was excited, after all, and Rose knew if she had made the quidditch team she would have talked about it just as much. But still, she thought as she tucked a piece of unruly hair behind her ear, she wasn’t used to being second best. The jealous monster in her stomach clawed at her and Rose buried her face in her pillow as she fought to control herself.   
There was a knock on the door and a quiet murmur of “Rosie?”   
Rose picked her head up and turned to see her dad standing in the doorway.   
“Hi, Daddy,” she said, dropping back down to the pillow in an attempt to hide her face. She didn’t want to tell her dad she was jealous of Al. He would think she was a terrible cousin, a terrible friend, for getting upset over something so silly.   
She heard footsteps and felt the mattress sink as her dad sat next to her. He put a hand on her shoulder and said softly, “I’d have wanted out of there too, if I were you.”   
“Really?” Rose asked, turning slowly to look at him, surprise coloring her face.   
Ron’s blue eyes crinkled as he gave his daughter a small smile and took her by the shoulders, lifting her so she was sitting up next to him. “Yeah,” he said with a small laugh, wrapping an arm around her and drawing her close. “It’s not fun when your friends make the team and you don’t.”   
“I’m glad he made it,” Rose muttered, leaning against her father’s chest. “I just wish I did too.”   
“I know, sweetheart,” Ron said, running a hand through his daughter’s messy curls. “But you’ll make the team soon enough. Dominique was telling everyone how well you did at tryouts. You made the top two, and were up against a seventh year!”   
“Mhm,” Rose mumbled, biting back her pessimistic comment that it didn’t matter if she made the top two; that simply meant she was the first string reject.   
“And now I get to tell everyone that my daughter, who’s just a second year, went up against a seventh year boy in quidditch tryouts and was only outdone by one save,” her dad continued, his voice rising with pride. “And they’ll all think the same as I do, that you’re one hell of a flyer to be able to do that.”  
Rose smiled and wrapped her arms around her father’s torso, burying her face in his chest. Her dad’s unwarranted pride always made her feel a bit better. “Thanks, Dad.”   
“You’re welcome, Rosie,” he said, ruffling her hair gently. “And don’t worry about making the team. I didn’t make it until my fifth year. And you know who else didn’t? Melvin Garg.”   
Rose’s head shot up and she stared, wide-eyed at her father. Melvin Garg was her dad’s favorite player on the Chudley Cannons. There was a life-size poster of him in their living room. “No,” she said. “Really?”   
“Yup,” Ron said, grinning at her reaction. “He tried out every year and got cut, but kept on practicing and trying to get better until he made Hufflepuff’s team as a fifth year. And now look at him, playing professionally.”   
Rose giggled and she hugged her dad tighter. “Do you think I could play professionally one day? Like Aunt Ginny?”   
“I think you can do anything you put your mind to, Rose Minerva.”   
Rose beamed at that and broke away from Ron, her eyes sparkling. “Really?” she asked. “What if I wanted to be an auror?”   
“Then I’m sure you’d be the best auror out there,” Ron said. “Maybe even better than me.”   
“What if I wanted to be minister of magic?”   
“Your Uncle Percy might faint and your mum would go into hysterics, she’d be so excited.”   
Rose giggled. “What if—“ she hesitated and cast around for another career. “Oh! What if I wanted to go train dragons with Uncle Charlie?”   
“Then you’d better still come home for Christmas,” her dad replied, grinning. “And I would go around telling everyone who would listen about my brave, smart, talented daughter who trains dragons for a living.”   
Rose smiled and hugged her dad again, feeling considerably happier than she had five minutes ago. “I love you,” she said.   
“Love you too, Rosie,” Ron replied, squeezing her once before letting her go. “What do you say we go back downstairs? I think I saw Grandma Molly hide some biscuits in the top cupboard.” 

 

On Christmas Eve Rose went with her family to see Teddy and Victoire’s flat on the outskirts of London. It was just her immediate family and the Potters on the trip, as the flat wasn’t big enough to hold the entire family.   
Rose’s feet found solid ground and she gripped her mother’s arm tightly as she tried to regain her balance. They had come by side-along apparition, since Mrs. Weasley said she didn’t trust her husband enough to drive a muggle car in holiday city traffic. While Rose privately thought her mother had made the right decision, the disorientation caused by apparating made her wish momentarily that they had taken their chances and driven.   
When she was able to stand straight and no longer felt like she might vomit, Rose looked up at the large building with wide eyes, wondering which of the tiny windows belonged to Vic and Teddy. They were standing in an alley, where no passers-by would see them appear out of thin air, but even in this claustrophobic space Rose could see that the building was beautiful. It was several stories high and made out of stone, with a large, ornately carved front door.   
“Everybody here?” Uncle Harry called from beside Rose, shaking his hair out of his eyes and letting go of Lily and Albus’ hands. “No accidents?”   
“We’re here,” Rose’s mum said.   
“Us too,” Ron replied from a few feet away, having just appeared with Hugo.   
There was a faint pop and Aunt Ginny arrived with James. James staggered for a moment just as Rose had. Uncle Harry walked over to his wife and put his arm around her shoulders before kissing her on the cheek. “Looks like that’s everyone,” he said. “Shall we?”   
The flat was perfect, in Rose’s opinion. It was small, no doubt, but cozy, and seemed to be exactly the right size for two people. Vic led them through the kitchen and into the living room, where they found Teddy sitting on the couch.   
“Hello!” he called, standing up and giving everyone a hug hello. “Glad you could finally come around and see the place.”   
“It’s lovely,” Aunt Ginny said as she stood on her toes to kiss Teddy on the cheek. “Did Fleur help with the decorating?”   
“Oh yes,” Teddy grinned, raising his eyebrows. “She spent a full two weeks overseeing everything, making sure it all lived up to her expectations.”   
“Well it turned out beautifully,” Rose’s mother said, stepping forward and giving Teddy a hug.   
Rose took the opportunity to look around the bright living room. It was the center of the flat, with one doorway leading to what she assumed to be a bedroom and another leading to the bathroom, and one more which they had just walked through leading to the kitchen. The walls were painted a light grey color and were nearly overrun with various paintings and photographs.   
Before Rose had time to get a closer look at the pictures, Teddy had appeared and wrapped her in a tight hug.   
“Have a seat, everyone,” he said when he’d released her, gesturing to the large sofa and two armchairs, all a matching floral pattern. “I think you’ll all be able to fit if you squeeze. If not, we can pull a couple chairs in from the kitchen.”   
“We’ll make it work,” Uncle Harry said as he sat in one of the armchairs, pulling Aunt Ginny with him so she was perched daintily on his knees. Rose’s parents sat in the other chair, mirroring Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny’s position. The five cousins all managed to squeeze on the couch, with Rose squashed between Lily and Albus.   
Teddy dragged in two chairs from the kitchen, which he and Victoire occupied after everyone had gotten settled.   
“So what do you think?” Victoire asked, smiling at the visitors.   
“It’s lovely,” Aunt Ginny said, swiveling her head around. “I can’t believe it’s taken us so long to finally come over here.”   
“That’s probably for the better,” Victoire said, grimacing slightly. “It seemed like we had the entire family living with us the first few weeks, the number of people who came. And then my parents decided they were going to stay with us for a week and of course Dom and Louis insisted on coming too. And my Grandmere came from France with my Aunt Gabrielle and her kids. It was a bit of a nightmare.”   
“Lots of conversations I couldn’t understand,” Teddy chimed in, grinning as Vic smacked him.   
“Anyways,” she continued, “we’re glad you lot are here now.”  
“You’re still coming for Christmas tomorrow though, right?” James asked. “Or are we coming here? Blimey, can we try to fit everyone in here to see what happens?”   
“Absolutely not,” Teddy said with a chuckle. “This is a muggle building and I don’t fancy having to go before the Wizengamot and explain why I had to put an undetectable extension charm on my flat.”   
“Nobody would notice,” James said with a shrug, turning to Rose’s mum. “Aunt Hermione, didn’t you put one of those charms on a bag when you were hunting horcruxes? It can’t be that hard.”   
“Erm,” Hermione squirmed, turning a bit pink. “James, dear, you know when I did it, it was for extenuating circumstances so I really can’t allow Teddy to cast one on the flat without going through the proper process—“  
“And anyways,” Uncle Harry broke in, giving James a pointed look, “this is Teddy and Vic’s flat so it’s their choice whether or not to invite anyone over.”   
“Merlin, that’s still a strange thing to hear,” Albus piped up, staring about the room as though seeing it for the first time.   
“I’m with you, Al,” Ron said, shaking his head in disbelief. “I can’t possibly be old enough to have a niece who has her own flat.”   
“Technically it’s not her own flat,” Teddy said with a smirk, wrapping an arm around Vic’s waist. “She does share it with someone you know.”   
“It’s still strange to think you’re old enough to have your own flat as well,” Uncle Harry said with a small, wistful smile, his eyes flickering to Teddy. “I still remember very clearly the day your father came rushing over to Shell Cottage, telling us you had been born and asking me to be your godfather. It’s like it was yesterday.”   
The room went quiet as everyone watched Uncle Harry, whose mouth had turned down as his eyes got the faraway look they sometimes had, the look that meant he wasn’t really with them at the moment.   
“Dear?” Aunt Ginny said, turning and putting a hand gently on Uncle Harry’s shoulder. “Harry?”   
“Yeah,” he said, shaking his head slightly and looking around the room. “Er, sorry, I just—“   
“Don’t worry about it,” Teddy said. “Actually, I wanted to show you something.” He stood up and walked across the room, where he carefully took down a small picture in a simple wooden frame from the wall. He approached Uncle Harry and held it out, watching his godfather’s face eagerly.   
Uncle Harry glanced down at the picture and his face paled, his green eyes growing wide as he gaped at the picture. “Where did you get this?” he asked slowly, still staring.   
“My grandmother gave it to me,” Teddy said. “She said Sirius left it at her place a bit after leaving Hogwarts, though she was never sure whether it was intentional or not. She kept it ever since—well, since the first war. And she gave it to me when Vic and I moved in; she said they all deserved a place on my wall.”   
“What is it?” James asked loudly, rising from the couch and taking a step towards his father. Albus grabbed hold of his brother’s shirt and yanked him back down, glaring.   
Uncle Harry looked up at his son and smiled, before walking over and handing him the photograph.   
Rose leaned over Albus to see it. It was a small, black and white picture, faded with age, which showed a group of five teenagers: four boys and a girl, all wearing Hogwarts robes and grinning madly at the camera.   
“There’s your Grandfather,” Uncle Harry said quietly, pointing to a tall, dark haired boy with glasses who looked almost identical to Harry and Albus. “And there’s your grandmother,” he pointed out the girl, who was holding hands with the bespectacled boy and would occasionally stand on her toes to peck him on the cheek. “That’s Teddy’s father,” Uncle Harry continued, pointing to a thin, light haired boy who had Teddy’s face shape and smile. “And Sirius,” he gestured to a haughty looking boy with shaggy dark hair and a smug smirk. “And Peter Pettigrew,” he pointed lastly to a short, plump boy with watery eyes, who was grinning boisterously.   
“Wow,” Albus breathed, looking up at his father with wide eyes. “They look so—so happy.”   
“They do,” Uncle Harry agreed, nodding. His brow furrowed when he looked up. “James?” he said softly. “Are you alright?”   
James was clutching the photograph so tightly his knuckles were white. His face, which was usually crinkled in a wide smile, was unusually serious as he gazed intently at the picture. A crease appeared between his eyebrows as he stared, his hazel eyes flickering between the happy, waving figures.   
“They’re all dead,” he said quietly as he handed the picture back to his father, still frowning. “They all died a long time ago.”   
On either side of Rose, Albus and Lily both stiffened slightly and leaned closer to their brother.  
“Yes, they did,” Uncle Harry said, kneeling down and looking over his shoulder towards Teddy, who walked closer to them.   
The room seemed to go still and Rose looked over at James, then at Albus and Lily. All three were leaning towards their father with expressions of incredulity and sadness. They had just seen a photograph not only of famous wizards who had fought in the wars, but of the people who had shaped their lives. The photograph gave them a rare glimpse at their grandparents who perished when their father was a baby, the two men who had been like fathers to Uncle Harry, and the traitor who was partially responsible for the scar on Harry’s forehead.   
For the first time Rose felt a distance erupt between herself and her cousins. Suddenly she felt as if they were on one side of a wide canyon and she was on the other, because their last name was Potter and hers was Weasley, because while the war had taken an uncle from her it had taken half their family. She felt awkward now, sitting in between Albus and Lily. They should be next to each other, she thought, united in their tragic heritage.   
Rose looked around the room. It seemed others shared her feeling that they were intruding on a private moment. Victoire was biting her lip and had her eyes glued on Teddy; Rose’s parents watched Uncle Harry nervously while Aunt Ginny leaned forward in her chair, ready to pounce the second her husband or children needed her.  
On the couch, James’ jaw twitched as he looked once more at the picture in his father’s hand, and then up at Teddy who was now crouched beside Uncle Harry.   
“It’s a bit of a shock to see for the first time, isn’t it, mate?” Teddy said, putting a hand on James’ shoulder. “I almost didn’t want to put it on the wall.”   
“I’ve seen pictures of my grandparents before,” James said slowly, his frown deepening. “But—“   
“It’s not the same, is it?” Uncle Harry asked. He looked at each of his children in turn and gave them a sad smile. “There’s something about seeing all of them together, and it’s even worse when you’re not expecting it.”   
“Yeah,” James muttered, running a hand through his hair. “I guess that’s it.”   
“It kind of hits you, doesn’t it?” Albus said suddenly. His green eyes were wide and trained on his father. “They—we—we came from them.”   
“We did,” Uncle Harry said. “And it’s important to remember them.”   
“And he—“ James said, pointing at the short, chubby boy in the photograph. “He’s the one who—“   
“Yes,” Uncle Harry said softly. “He’s the one who betrayed them.”  
The three Potter children and Teddy all looked at each other and nodded their heads, coming to some sort of unspoken understanding that Rose was not privy to. Uncle Harry stood up and handed the photograph back to Teddy before returning to his seat, wrapping his arms tightly around Aunt Ginny and whispering something in her ear.   
“So,” Victoire said tentatively, glancing around as Teddy replaced the picture back on the wall. “I—I have some biscuits and fairy cakes in the kitchen if anyone wants some.”   
The bubble of tension burst and the adults all jumped up, smiling a little too widely and ushering everyone into the kitchen. Rose stood up and turned to see James, Albus and Lily standing close together, each brother holding one of Lily’s hands as they walked into the kitchen. 

They stayed at Teddy and Victoire’s flat until five o’clock, when Uncle Harry checked his watch and said they had best be going if they didn’t want to miss dinner and upset Grandma Molly.   
Rose was rather relieved at this. Ever since Teddy had shown them the picture, she had felt out of place. The three Potter children had all sat together with their father, asking questions about their namesakes and Teddy’s father. Rose stood with her parents and brother, listening to her dad and Victoire discuss auror training.   
When Uncle Harry announced it was time to leave, everybody hugged and kissed Teddy and Vic, saying goodbye with so much enthusiasm it was hard to believe they were going to see each other the very next day.   
They arrived back at the Burrow just in time for dinner, throughout which Rose was rather quiet. Albus talked about quidditch and the tidbits about his grandparents he had learned in the last few hours. Rose nodded along and occasionally responded with a vague “mhm,” but she hardly heard a word her cousin said.   
When the plates had all been cleared from the table, Rose’s mum put a hand on her shoulder. “Are you ready to finish, love?”   
Rose furrowed her brow looked down, seeing A Christmas Carol in her mother’s hand. Her face cleared. Of course, it was Christmas Eve. They always read the last stave on Christmas Eve. With a smile, Rose nodded and followed her mother up the stairs, Hugo bumbling after them. They decided to go to Rose, Lily and Lucy’s room, since it was the closest.   
They walked in and Hermione sat down in the middle of the bed, so Rose and Hugo could curl up on either side of her.   
“I was very proud of you two today,” she said quietly, kissing each of her children on the head and pulling them closer to her. “When Uncle Harry was talking about that picture and the people in it. You two were very tactful about it, staying nice and quiet and not being rude. I know he and Aunt Ginny and your cousins appreciate it.”   
Rose thought back to the picture and the reaction it had elicited from her cousins and shuddered. “It’s so sad, isn’t it,” she said. “That they’ll never meet any of those people.”   
“It is sad,” Hermione said, running her hand through Rose’s hair. “But that’s why we all fought that war, so other people won’t have to be sad like that.”   
“But Albus and James and Lily are still sad,” Hugo said, frowning at his mother. “And so is Teddy.”   
“Yes,” Hermione sighed. “They’ll always be a little sad, I’m afraid. But they’ll also be happy. They’re usually very happy people, aren’t they?”   
Hugo thought for a minute and then slowly nodded his head.   
“And now, because of the sacrifices those people in the picture made, your cousins, and you two, and Dad and I and Uncle Harry and a lot of other people are all very happy…much happier than we were before.”   
“I’ve never seen James so…serious before” Rose said quietly, curling into her mother’s side. She paused for a moment and then added, “I’m glad we know our grandparents.”   
“I’m glad you know your grandparents too,” Hermione whispered, giving Rose a small smile before turning back to the book. “But let’s think about happier things, loves. It’s Christmas Eve. Rosie, do you want to read or should I?”   
“You read,” Rose said, closing her eyes and listening to her mother’s breathing. At the moment she was very content to simply sit on the bed with her mum and brother, with her mother’s voice soothing her. “You read the ending better than anyone.” 

Christmas Day came and went with the usual bustle and merriment. Rose’s parents had given her a new book, Pride and Prejudice, which she tore through in two days. When she reached the last page, instead of closing the book, Rose promptly flipped back to the beginning and started anew, her eyes dancing as Elizabeth Bennett’s world sprang up in her imagination and sucked her in.   
The Longbottoms and Scamanders came over for the New Year’s Eve party and Ly Scamander, who had grown recently and now stood nearly six inches taller than Rose, gave her a tight hug and asked, with a wide smile, what she had gotten for Christmas. A very red faced Rose stammered out she had gotten a new book and hastened to fetch her copy of Pride and Prejudice and show Ly.   
He flipped through the pages with interest before handing it back to her and saying he’s never heard of that book or author, but that’s probably because neither of his parents know much about muggle books. Then he had winked at her and ventured off to find Roxanne, telling Rose they should try to see each other more at school. She stood rooted to the spot for a few minutes after that. Her face was still red, but she couldn’t help the small smile blooming on her face. She had had a conversation with Ly Scamander without saying something embarrassing. And now she had. It had been a very short conversation, yes, but it had happened nonetheless.   
Rose spent the rest of the party with Albus and Lucy, blushing furiously anytime someone mentioned the name Scamander. Her cousins must have realized the cause of her red face because after a few minutes both of them were going out of their way to talk about their family friends. Lucy would comment on Mrs. Scamander’s robes and then Albus would say he wished his hair was blond like Ly Scamander’s because it was such a nice shade of blond, wasn’t it Rose? Rose’s face remained beet red for the rest of the night and she silently made a note to put nosebleed nougat in her cousins’ breakfast the next morning. 

She never did put nosebleed nougat in their food, her conscience getting the better of her. However, by the end of it Rose rather wished she had gone and given her cousins horrendous nosebleeds. At least then she might not have gotten into a rather nasty quarrel with Albus.   
It had started innocuously enough. They had been sitting cross-legged in the room Albus shared with James and Fred, playing exploding snap, when an owl tapped on the window.   
“I’ve got it,” Albus said, jumping up and letting the owl in, untying the letter attached to its leg and opening it.   
“Who’s that from?” Rose asked, not looking up from the cards she was shuffling.   
“Scorpius,” Albus answered, giving the owl a pat on the head and sending it back out the window.   
Rose’s head shot up and she frowned at her cousin, who was now grinning at the letter in his hand.   
“Since when are you and Scorpius Malfoy pen pals?” she asked loftily, returning to the cards.   
“We’re not pen pals,” Albus said, glancing at her over the parchment and raising his eyebrows. “I wrote him, Nathan and Tommy asking if they’d like to spend Easter holidays with us and he’s just answered.”   
“You what?” Rose demanded, jumping to her feet and trying to tear the letter out of Albus’ hands.   
“Oi!” he shouted, jumping back. “What’s your problem, stop grabbing at me!”   
“You didn’t tell me you invited them!” Rose cried, her face heating up as she glared at Albus. “You can’t do that, Al, we always spend Easter holidays together!”   
“Rosie, relax,” Albus said, frowning at her as he folded the letter and tucked it in his jeans pocket. “We’ll still spend it together, we’ll just have three other people with us.”   
“So I can tag along with you and your friends and get ignored by Scorpius Malfoy here as well as at school?” Rose said. “Brilliant. That’s exactly how I wanted to spend Easter.”   
“Oh, come off it, Rosie,” Albus scoffed. “You wouldn’t be tagging along and he doesn’t ignore you—“   
“Yes he does!” Rose shrieked, stamping her foot in indignation. “Yes he bloody well does Albus Severus, and you know it!”   
“He’s quiet with everyone!”   
“He hates me!”   
“Well I’m friends with him,” Albus said firmly, raking his hand through his hair like Uncle Harry did when he was frustrated. “Honestly, you get along with Nathan and Tommy just fine—“   
“They’re both nice enough!”   
“Scorpius is plenty nice too!”   
“Then why doesn’t he ever bloody talk to me?”   
“I don’t know,” Albus shrugged, looking at her warily. “Maybe you, I dunno, intimidate him or something.”  
Rose snorted. “Right,” she said scathingly. “I intimidate him. That’s it. Honestly, Al, why did you invite him?”   
“I wasn’t planning on it originally,” he said loudly, glaring at her. “I was just going to ask Nathan but then he said that he has always spent Easter with Scorp’s family so I figured I’d invite them both, and it seemed rude to invite them and not Tommy.”   
“Well you could’ve just bloody not invited anyone at all and spent Easter with your family like always, instead of inviting a couple of rich, stuck up pricks!” Rose exploded, her temper getting the better of her.   
Albus stepped back. For a moment he looked as though she had slapped him. A moment later he straightened and glared at her, his jaw tightening. “They’re my friends, Rose,” he said quietly.  
His voice was barely above a whisper but the venom behind it made her freeze, her white-hot anger cooling rapidly. “They are my friends,” Albus continued, his hands shaking furiously. “And if I want to invite them for holidays I don’t need your permission.”   
Rose said nothing. She stared at Albus, who so rarely got angry. In that moment she wished he were like her and the rest of the family, who got red and screamed and stamped their feet when they were angry but then were over it soon after. This white-faced, quiet fury scared her more than anything.   
“I—“ she began, already deflating under her cousin’s furious stare. “You know I didn’t—“   
“If you don’t like it then you don’t have to spend time with me over the holidays,” Albus whispered, his green eyes fixed on her. “And that goes for if you can’t be nice, too.”   
“I will—Al—“   
“I’m going downstairs to help Grandma Molly with dinner,” he said abruptly. He stalked past Rose and pushed past the door, not looking back as he went.   
Rose stared after him for a moment and then sank to the floor. What had just happened? 

Albus avoided her for the rest of the day, staying in the kitchen with Grandma Molly where he knew Rose wouldn’t be. Rose, for her part, pretended nothing was amiss. She played chess against her dad and Hugo and sat between Fred and Lucy at dinner, taking great care not to catch Albus’ eye. After the table was cleared and the family began to disperse to their different rooms she hurried up the stairs and flung herself on her bed, taking out Pride and Prejudice and picking up where she had left off.   
Lucy and Lily came up later in the evening and the three girls stayed up as always, talking in hushed voices about gossip they had picked up throughout the day until they were too tired to speak anymore.   
Lucy and Lily fell asleep quickly, but Rose was unable to. She lay on her back and stared at the ceiling, listening to Lily’s steady breathing beside her. Her fight with Albus earlier replayed in her mind until Rose wanted to scream.   
She hadn’t meant to yell at him or say such awful things, but why had he blindsided her like that? They always spent holidays together, especially now that they hardly got to spend time together at school outside of the library. He should have told her he was inviting friends! And above all, he should have told her he was inviting Scorpius Malfoy.   
With a frustrated sigh, Rose swung her legs over the side of the bed and got up, throwing on her dressing gown. She needed one of Grandma Molly’s biscuits. That would make her feel better.   
She tip-toed out of the bedroom and quietly closed the door behind her before creeping down the stairs, taking care to hop over the creaky fourth step.   
A faint light emanated from the kitchen but this didn’t faze Rose; she knew Grandma Molly often left a light on downstairs. To her surprise, however, when she walked in she did not find a deserted kitchen as she had expected. Uncle Harry sat at the table, a glass of firewhiskey in his hand.   
He turned in surprise at the sound of her footsteps, but didn’t reprimand her or send her back to bed.  
“Hey there, Rosie.” Was all he said. He watched silently as Rose fetched a biscuit from the top cupboard; when she faced him again he gestured towards the chair next to him.   
Rose took a seat, munching quietly on the biscuit.   
Uncle Harry took a sip of firewhiskey and peered at her over the top of his glass. “Couldn’t sleep?” he asked. His eyes twinkled, though Rose thought it might just be the lamplight reflecting off his glasses.   
She nodded and swallowed her bite. “Yeah,” she said. “I thought a biscuit might help.”   
“I’m sure it will,” Uncle Harry chuckled. “Your grandma’s biscuits always make me feel rather sleepy too.”   
Rose nodded and didn’t say anything as she continued to nibble on her biscuit. Uncle Harry drank his firewhiskey and they sat together in companionable silence for a few minutes.   
“How’s school going?” he asked after a while, setting his glass on the table. “How do you like Ravenclaw?”   
“I like it,” Rose replied evenly, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. “Although I do rather miss Albus.”   
Uncle Harry smiled and reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “It must be hard being in different houses,” he said. “Especially when you’re used to always seeing each other.”   
“Yes,” Rose said vaguely, nodding again and looking at the table. “It is—wait” her head snapped up and she looked at her uncle curiously. “Uncle Harry, can I—or, could you tell me about the Malfoys?”   
Uncle Harry’s eyebrows shot up and he picked up his firewhiskey and took a long drink before setting it back down and looking at her warily. “Why do you want to know about the Malfoys, Rosie?” he asked slowly.   
Rose shrugged, searching for a plausible answer before sighing and deciding to just tell him the truth. “Scorpius is in Ravenclaw and he doesn’t seem to like me,” she said, twisting a piece of hair. “And I know his family is known for being, er, not good, but Albus and Lucy both say he’s nice and I just don’t know—“ she trailed off, peeking up to see her uncle looking at her oddly.   
“Alright,” Uncle Harry said, furrowing his brow and swirling his firewhiskey around. “But, Rosie, you can’t repeat anything I tell you, alright? I need you to promise that.”   
“I promise,” Rose breathed, relieved at not being questioned further about her curiosity with this particular family.   
Uncle Harry shifted in his chair and patted the spot next to him. Rose padded over and sat down so they were sharing a chair. Her uncle put an arm around her and took a deep breath.   
“Mr. Malfoy was at school with me and your parents. You know that much?”   
Rose nodded. She had gathered that much from Albus and from the few times she had heard the name mentioned by one of her parents over the last few years.   
“Well,” Uncle Harry continued, “Mr. Malfoy was rather a—er—a bully at school. He could be cruel. His family was all mixed up with the dark arts and, yes, Scorpius’ father and grandfather were death eaters.”   
Rose said nothing, not wanting to confirm that Albus had already told her as much, but also not wanting to lie and pretend she hadn’t known.   
“I figured Albus would tell you,” Uncle Harry said gently, squeezing her arm and smiling. “I’m not angry with him, don’t worry. I’d rather you heard it from him than someone less—kind. But, where was I? Oh, right. Mr. Malfoy was a death eater but, I want you to understand something, Rose. A lot of people, even your dad, still hold that against him. They find it hard to forgive Mr. Malfoy for some of the things he did during the war. I don’t like that people don’t forgive him, but I understand. He was—well, a lot of people did terrible things during the war and he was no different.”   
“What did he do?” Rose asked quietly. She snapped her jaw shut as soon as the question left her mouth, almost afraid to know. She knew her mother was a muggle-born, and she had heard from her cousins and schoolmates what death eaters did to people like that and those who defended them during the war. Her mother’s face swam in Rose’s head and a surge of terror gripped her. “He—he didn’t do anything to our family, did he?” she whispered, turning to her uncle with wide eyes.  
Uncle Harry hesitated. Rose saw him chew his bottom lip and then take another sip of his drink before he glanced down and locked his green eyes, identical to Albus’, onto her blue ones. “Mr. Malfoy made a lot of mistakes during the war,” he said. “And some people in our family were hurt by them. But he has tried very hard to change since then and has worked hard to redeem himself. And, Rosie, the most important thing I want you to remember is that he is not an evil person. Neither is Scorpius.”  
Rose nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek as she processed everything her uncle said.   
“So he—he didn’t hurt anyone in our family?”   
Uncle Harry sighed and tightened his grip on her shoulder. “He was part of a movement that aimed to destroy our entire family, Rosie,” he said quietly. “But anything he did, he regrets. And, in my opinion, his transgressions are forgivable.”   
Rose nodded, unsure of how to respond to that.   
“And, Rosie?” Uncle Harry murmured, giving her a pointed look. “No matter what your parents or other kids at school say, take it easy on Scorpius. He can’t help who his family is and I would bet his life is difficult enough already without you or anyone else jumping on him for something he can’t control.”   
“Okay,” Rose said, feeling a flush creep up her neck.   
“And when he’s here for Easter try to be nice,” Uncle Harry said.   
Rose looked at him sharply and he raised a knowing eyebrow before leaning over to kiss the top of her head and nudging her in the back. “I think that’s enough for tonight,” he said. “It’s late and you should get to bed.”   
Rose slid off the chair and Uncle Harry stood up and stretched before setting his firewhiskey glass on the counter.   
Rose walked quietly out the kitchen, her head still spinning from everything she had heard. “Goodnight, Uncle Harry,” she said quietly, pausing in the doorway and glancing over her shoulder.   
He turned to look at her and smiled, the light from the lamps reflecting off his glasses. “Goodnight, Rosie,” he called back.


	6. Chapter 6

The day came for the cousins to return to Hogwarts and Rose found that she wasn’t all that upset. The last few days of Christmas holiday had been awkward and uncomfortable. Albus had continued to ignore her and it seemed there wasn’t a room in the magically enlarged house where a person could read without being interrupted by noisy family members. So it was with a sigh of relief that Rose kissed her parents goodbye and hopped onto the scarlet steam engine.   
She quickly found the Weasley compartment and sat down warily. Everyone else was still on the platform saying goodbye to their parents, which Rose was grateful for as it felt like she hadn’t had a moment to herself for the last two weeks. She leaned her head against the door, closed her eyes and let out a heavy sigh, wishing the others would choose to sit elsewhere and leave her to sit uninterrupted. The thought of spending all day in the cramped compartment surrounded by her eight cousins made Rose feel claustrophobic and drained.  
The glass door slid open and Rose jumped back. Pressing a palm to her forehead and trying to hide her irritated frown, she looked up to see Albus standing before her, his hand running through his hair.   
“Er—hi,” he said, his eyes flitting up to meet hers. His hand dropped to his side and he gestured vaguely to the spot next to her. “Can I sit by you?”   
“Uh—sure,” Rose said, frowning slightly as he sat down. It was the first time Al had spoken to her voluntarily since their argument two days ago. She slid the door shut and leaned back against her seat, forcing herself not to look at her cousin.   
Albus chewed his lip and they sat in silence for a moment, both fidgeting and taking care not to sit too close to each other. It was horribly awkward for Rose. Albus was one of her favorite cousins, one of her best friends. She didn’t know if his choosing to sit next to her was meant as some sort of peace offering or if he still planned to ignore her indefinitely. She squeezed her eyes shut and pressed a palm to her forehead. They couldn’t spend the entire train ride avoiding each other. She wanted to make up with Al, but the thought of just blurting out an apology made Rose recoil.   
A more tactful person than Rose may have devised a plan to subtly bring up the topic and carefully coax Al into talking about the ugly words that had gotten between them. Unfortunately, Rose being who she was, she chose to square her shoulders and ask perhaps a bit too harshly, “So, are you just going to sit here and not talk to me for the whole train ride then?”  
Albus raised an eyebrow and met her gaze, looking rather unsurprised at her outburst. “No,” he said. “I was actually hoping we could talk about that.”   
“Right,” said Rose, a bit embarrassed for her boorishness. She dropped her gaze and flushed, regretting her momentary rudeness. “Er, well—“ she took a deep breath and exhaled in exasperation. “Oh, I’m sorry, Al.”   
“I’m sorry too,” he nodded. “I shouldn’t have sprung it on you like that.”   
“I shouldn’t have been so nasty about it,” Rose said, scooting closer to him. Now that they had both apologized she felt much less vulnerable. “You know when I get angry I say things and I don’t mean them—“   
“Rosie, it’s alright,” said Al, giving her a small smile and taking her hand. “Really. I was pretty upset—“   
“I know,” she muttered.   
“But,” Al continued, “I know you feel bad about it and I don’t want us to be in a fight when we get back to school. And I kind of missed you the last few days.”   
Rose grinned and nudged him in the shoulder. “Yeah?” she goaded. “Missed your favorite cousin?”   
“I never said you’re my favorite cousin,” Albus grumbled, though he couldn’t contain a smile. They both knew Rose was his favorite. And he was hers, right after Fred.   
“So we’re alright?” Rose asked, her grin fading as she locked eyes with Albus. “Really, Al, I am sorry about it. I was horrible.”   
“It’s alright,” he murmured. “But,” he added with a sudden smirk, “if you get a Circe chocolate frog card you have to give it to me. I just need her, Gwydion, and Houdini and I’ll have a complete collection.”   
“Fine,” Rose mumbled, rolling her eyes and shooting him a half-hearted glare.   
The compartment door opened again and Roxanne and Louis entered. They sat opposite the two second years and Roxanne grinned. “Ready to go back?” she asked, putting an arm around Louis.   
“Definitely,” Rose and Albus responded, catching each other’s eye and grinning. Albus scooted closer to Rose and gave her a smile when their shoulders knocked together.   
“It’s always nice to see everyone, but Merlin, being at the Burrow makes me miss Hogwarts sometimes,” Roxanne said.   
“I’m excited to have a bed to myself,” Rose said. “Lily’s worse than a devil’s snare in her sleep with all her kicking. It’s horrible.”   
A sudden shout from behind them of “Oy! Exploding snap tournament!” announced James’ appearance and Rose turned to see the rest of her cousins filing into the compartment, sliding into seats and squirming to get comfortable in the cramped space. She was now seated between Albus and Fred and couldn’t help but smile as James immediately began to deal out cards. Rose took her cards and caught Fred’s eye, grinning at him and raising an eyebrow as she set a pair down on the table. Term was already off to a better start than she had anticipated. 

Life at Hogwarts resumed quickly and Rose slipped back into her old routines easily, though with a few changes. She and Lucy now spent nearly every evening after dinner in the library, per Lucy’s insistence. They were often joined by Albus, except for the days he had quidditch practice, and always joined by Nathan Nott, who didn’t seem to mind spending so much time with the two Ravenclaws.   
Tommy Greengrass and Scorpius Malfoy joined them often, with the latter still pretending that Rose didn’t exist. Remembering what Uncle Harry had told her, Rose tried her hardest to ignore him, which was surprisingly easy to do when she put her mind to it. Most evenings they managed to work without speaking to each other at all.   
Rose’s willingness to accompany her cousins to the library was not entirely due to a desire to spend time with them, however. Since coming back from holidays a certain Ly Scamander seemed to have taken up the habit of spending a few evenings a week at a nearby table with his friends. Rose liked to go just for the thrill of being near him, though she blushed furiously any time Lucy waggled her eyebrows and suggested Rose go over and say hello.   
One evening in early February Rose was sitting next to Lucy at their usual library table, her quill scratching away as she scribbled out the last few sentences of her charms essay. Albus had quiddditch practice and Tommy was getting extra help in transfiguration from Professor Lyncroft, so the girls were at the library with Nathan and Scorpius.   
They were all working in silence. Out of the corner of her eye, Rose caught sight of familiar dirty blond hair and inhaled sharply, forcing herself not to look up.   
“Rosie, you promised,” Lucy whispered beside her in a sing-song voice, barely concealing her grin as her eyes flickered from Lysander to Rose.   
“I know,” Rose bit out, frowning at her essay. She bent her head lower so her red curls spilled over the parchment, smearing the glistening ink. “I don’t want to, though.”   
“You shouldn’t have made that bet then,” Lucy said smugly, shaking her head.   
“What bet?” Nathan Nott asked from across the table, looking up with interest at the two cousins. Beside him Scorpius Malfoy glanced up momentarily, cocking an eyebrow when Rose scowled at him and then returning to his work.   
“Our cousin James suggested that Rosie and I make a bet over last week’s quidditch match,” Lucy said, beaming. “And seeing as neither of our families sends us loads of money while we’re at school, we decided that whoever won the bet got to dare the other to do something.”   
“And I take it you won?” Nathan asked, the corner of his mouth twitching up.   
Lucy nodded, her grin widening as she turned to Rose, who looked as though she had been fed a vomit flavored Bertie Bott’s. “Rose had Hufflepuff winning.”   
“They would’ve bloody won too if MacLean hadn’t sneezed right as he was about to catch the snitch,” Rose grumbled. She sat up and angrily swept her hair over her shoulder, ignoring the spots of ink in it.   
“Now, now, Rosie,” Lucy crowed, her usually mild face twisted into a gloating smile. “Slytherin won fair and square, and I won the bet fair and square.” This earned her a pointed glare and an indistinguishable noise from Rose which sounded vaguely like a string of curses.   
Across the table, Nathan looked as though he were trying his hardest not to laugh. “I can’t believe you bet on Slytherin and won,” he said to Lucy. “Honestly, they’ve been playing like dung all year, the chasers are horrible—“   
“Yes they are!” Rose burst out, throwing her arms wide in exasperation. “And the victory was a fluke! An absolute fluke! If Collin MacLean hadn’t bloody sneezed—“   
“But he did sneeze,” Lucy interjected.   
“Well that’s not fair!” Rose exclaimed, crossing her arms with a huff.   
“That’s quidditch,” Scorpius Malfoy said quietly, looking up once again and fixing Rose with a look of distaste. “And you’re acting like quite a sore loser at the moment.”   
“I am not!” Rose cried. “I just can’t believe I lost the stupid bet!”   
“What do you have to do now?” Nathan asked, leaning forward eagerly. “I can’t believe Lucy would make you do anything that bad.”  
“You’d be surprised,” Rose growled, throwing a dirty look at her cousin and slouching in her chair. She twisted slightly and looked over at the group of third year Ravenclaws not far away. Lysander sat with his friends, his back to Rose.   
“Stop being so dramatic, Rosie,” Lucy said, taking a tissue out of her pocket and wiping the ink from Rose’s hair.   
“I’m not being dramatic.”   
“Yes you are. You just have to say hello. Honestly, it’s not going to kill you.”   
“Maybe it will,” Rose said, pulling away from her cousin. “Maybe the stress of it will kill me. You know Grandma Molly always says that Great Aunt Muriel died from too much stress.”   
“Great Aunt Muriel died from a heart attack because she only drank red wine for the last five years of her life,” Lucy said, tucking the tissue back in her pocket. “And she was already fat as a cow from what your dad said.”   
“Well—I—I—“ Rose sputtered, her blue eyes going wide as she stared at her cousin.   
“Wait, what is the dare exactly?” Nathan asked, his eyebrows knitting together. “She’s just got to go say hello to someone?”   
“Not just anyone,” Lucy said. “Ly Scamander.”   
“Ly—the twin—oh—Rose—oh,” Nathan’s eyes fell on Rose and she felt her face flush. She looked away and jammed an elbow into Lucy’s side.   
“Ow!” Lucy cried, jumping to the edge of her chair. “What was that for?”   
“Just tell everyone, why don’t you?” Rose grumbled. Her face felt as though it were on fire and she glanced involuntarily again towards the third year Ravenclaws.   
“It’s not like everyone didn’t already know,” Lucy said, pulling out her herbology notes. “You’re horribly obvious about it.”   
“I am not!” Rose hissed. She looked up and saw Nathan and Scorpius looking at her, Nathan with a smile and Scorpius with a look of disdain. Her face grew even warmer.   
“Just go do it, Rosie,” Lucy said, flipping a page in One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi. “And then it’ll be done and I’m sure the next time we bet on a quidditch match you’ll win and make me do something equally embarrassing.”   
“You can count on that,” Rose mumbled. She sat up straighter in her chair and took a deep breath, pulling her fingers through the wild tangles in her hair. She pushed her charms essay to the side and stood up, steeling herself.   
“Just pretend he’s Fred or Al,” Lucy chirped.   
Rose nodded dumbly, thinking privately that neither Fred nor Al made her as self-conscious as Ly Scamander, and imagining the pale-eyed blond haired boy to be one of her cousins was vaguely repulsive. Squaring her shoulders, Rose shot one last look at Lucy and made her way to the table where Ly sat.   
He turned around as she approached, giving her his usual easy grin and flicking a piece of hair out of his eyes.   
“Hullo, Rosie,” he greeted her. “How’s the studying going?”   
“Er, hi,” Rose squeaked, her face steaming once again as she stood before Ly. She tucked her hair behind her ear and stared at her shoes, cursing her red face. “It—it’s alright—not too bad really.” She stopped abruptly and clamped her mouth shut, lest she say anything embarrassing.   
“That’s good,” Ly said, not commenting on her stammering. “And how about that book you told me about at New Year’s? What’s it called, Pies and Pumpkin Juice?”   
“Pride and Prejudice,” Rose answered, her eyes darting up to Ly’s face and her mouth twitching into a small smile. “It’s brilliant, I’ve brought it to school with me.”   
“Is that what you were reading last night in the common room then?”   
“Er, no,” Rose flushed. “That was one of my Anne of Green Gables books.”   
Ly smiled and his pale blue eyes crinkled. Rose wanted to melt into the ground. “Well,” she said quickly, stumbling over her feet as she made to turn around. “I’ve got to go back and—and—you know write words—and dip my quill—it can’t do that on its own I have to be there and I’ve been away too long so—er—bye.”   
Without waiting for a reply she hastily spun on her heel, almost tipping over but managing to regain her balance before she fell to the ground. She hurried back to her own table and dropped into her chair next to Lucy, who was grinning.   
“That wasn’t so bad now was it?” Lucy asked, her brown eyes gleaming.  
Rose breathed in sharply and buried her face in her hands. “When I get to dare you, Lucy Marie Weasley, you’re going to be sorry.” 

 

The ice of February melted into the slush and sleet of March. Although her cousins prodded her constantly, Rose refused to initiate another conversation with Lysander, blushing horribly anytime it was suggested. Furthermore, she was very careful from then on about making bets with any of her family members, particularly those who knew about her crush.   
As winter faded away, Rose resumed practicing her quidditch skills, spending four evenings a week out on the pitch running through drills and having her various practice partners try and get goals past her. Dom joined whenever she had time, coaching Rose through complicated maneuvers and offering advice as they flew around in the sharp springtime chill.   
Dom, however, was unable to practice as much as Rose wanted, between studying and running regular house team practices. Because of this, Rose often found herself on the pitch with Maren Thomas, much to both girls’ surprise. They enjoyed practicing together, as Maren was a chaser and Rose a keeper; they spent hours in the air, keeping a running score of how many goals Maren managed to get past Rose and how many Rose saved.   
When they got bored of playing one-on-one Rose and Maren sweet-talked, bribed, and blackmailed Allie Boot and Lucy into joining them on the pitch for two-a-side games. Both Lucy and Allie were dreadful at the game and Lucy refused to fly higher than ten feet in the air, so the matches usually ended with Rose and Maren swearing never to bring their best friends onto the pitch ever again, but they always did and although Allie and Lucy grumbled and complained all four girls rather enjoyed their time on the pitch together.   
After one such game in late March, during which Lucy had nearly fallen off her broom and Allie had somehow managed to hit herself in the mouth with the quaffle, the four girls sat on the frozen ground of the quidditch pitch, their brooms lying beside them, talking quietly. They were all drenched in sweat and out of breath, hardly noticing the chilly breeze in the air.   
“Merlin,” Allie said, “I can’t believe we’re almost done with our second year here.”   
“We’re not almost done,” Lucy replied, twisting a piece of hair around her finger. “We’ve still got nearly three months left of term.”   
“Yes, but only three months,” Allie said petulantly, her blonde curls rustling around her face as she shook her head in disbelief. “And then we’re third years. And we can take new classes and go to Hogsmeade—“   
“And Mare and I will be on the quidditch team,” Rose said, grinning at Maren.   
“Yes, yes, and Lucy and I will be obligated to come to every single match and deck ourselves out in blue and bronze and scream until we lose our voices,” Allie said, smiling at Rose and Maren.  
“I’d hope you’d do that anyways,” Maren said, tucking a piece of dark hair behind her ear. “My dad said if I made the team he’d floo over for every match.”   
“My dad said the same thing,” Rose replied, rolling her eyes but unable to conceal the grin on her face. “He and my mum came with Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny to watch Albus and everyone else in the Slytherin vs. Gryffindor match, and Dad said hopefully next year he’ll have to be here for the Ravenclaw matches too.”   
“Maybe our dads will start a fan club,” Maren snorted. “Y’know they played on the Gryffindor team together? My dad told me that over the summer.”   
“I didn’t,” Rose said, laughing. “You should come to the Burrow sometime, Mare, and play with me and Fred and Al—“ she broke off suddenly, sitting up straighter and looking around eagerly. “Hey!” she cried. “You two should come visit the Burrow over Easter holidays! Al invited friends, I’m sure Lucy and I can too.”   
“Er, Rosie?” Lucy said, furrowing her eyebrows.   
“It’d be brilliant,” Rose continued, ignoring her cousin as she flushed with excitement. “You can meet everyone and we all haven’t gotten together over a holiday yet, which is silly, we really should’ve done it ages ago!”   
“Rosie,” Lucy tried again.   
“And of course it always gets a bit crazy with all the family there but everyone would love to meet you—“   
“Rosie!” Lucy yelled, leaning forward.   
“What?” Rose asked, raising her eyebrows as she stopped her rambling.   
“You can’t invite them to the Burrow if you’re not going to be there,” Lucy said pointedly, giving Rose an exasperated look.   
“I—wait, what do you mean I’m not going to be there?” Rose demanded. “Am I being tossed out or something?”   
“No,” Lucy said slowly, in the voice one might use with a small child, “your family’s going to France, remember?”   
“Er—“ Rose paused and frowned. “What?”   
“You’re going to France for Easter holidays. That’s why you’re not going home on the train—“   
“I’m not going home on the train?”   
“For the love of Dumbledore,” Lucy bit out, rolling her eyes. Maren and Allie giggled, watching the two cousins interact.   
“How did you know this?” Rose asked, too stunned to say anything else.   
“My dad mentioned it in his last letter,” Lucy shrugged. “Did your parents not tell you?”   
“Er, they might have,” Rose frowned, looking a little guilty. “I may have accidentally spilled tea on my mum’s last letter and set fire to it trying to clean it off.”   
Lucy pinched the bridge of her nose and Maren sniggered.   
“So I’m going to France over Easter?” Rose asked, the news now really sinking in. “I won’t be at the Burrow? I won’t have to see that twat—“   
“Rosie, please,” Lucy gasped. She was somehow still shocked every time Rose used foul language. “You know you shouldn’t call people that—“   
“Well he deserves it,” Rose said stiffly.   
“Who’s this now?” Allie asked, looking curiously between Rose and Lucy. “Who’s the twat?”   
Lucy rolled her eyes and tugged at her ponytail. “Rose thinks Scorpius Malfoy is—er—“  
“An enormous twat,” Rose supplied, elbowing her cousin gently in the ribs as Lucy scowled. “Lighten up, Luce. I could’ve called him much worse.”   
“You shouldn’t call him anything at all,” Lucy mumbled, rubbing her side. “Honestly, Rose—“   
“Why’s he a twat?” Maren asked.  
“Stop saying that word—“   
“He just is,” Rose said loudly over Lucy’s reprimand, scowling at the thought of their blond haired classmate. “He ignores me for no reason, and always looks at me like I just hexed his mum or something.”   
“That’s odd,” Allie said, crinkling her forehead. “He seems so quiet and sweet. I can’t imagine him being unkind to anyone.”  
“Well he’s unkind to me,” Rose huffed.   
“I’m sure he doesn’t mean it,” Allie said quickly, twisting a curl around her index finger and chewing on her cheek thoughtfully. “Really, I can’t believe he would act like that on purpose—“   
“You just think he’s fit,” Maren said, waggling her eyebrows.   
“I do not!” Allie cried, her face going scarlet as she smacked Maren in the shoulder. “I just think he’s a very nice person and I can’t see him being rude for no reason—“   
“You think he’s fit?” Rose asked, whipping around to look at Allie incredulously. “But he’s so pale and his face is so—so unhappy all the time—“   
“He’s nice,” Allie muttered, sinking into the ground. “I—I dunno—his eyes are pretty and he’s not that pale—“   
Rose raised an eyebrow but didn’t respond. Allie bit her lip and glanced around at her three roommates. “And he’s nice,” she added quietly. “He’s always sweet whenever I talk to him and you know he adores his cousin and everyone who knows him well says he’s wonderful.”   
“That’s what I’ve always said,” Lucy interjected. Allie shot a grateful look at her and began studying her fingernails, her cheeks still sizzling.   
“And I don’t think he’s fit,” Lucy continued loftily, giving Rose a pointed look, “so it’s an unbiased opinion—“   
“No, but you think his best friend is fit,” Rose interrupted her cousin with a grin.   
“So what if I do,” Lucy mumbled, her face flaming up to match Allie’s. “There’s nothing wrong with that.”   
“I didn’t say there was,” Rose murmured. She leaned back and laid down on the frozen ground, pulling her knees to her chest.   
The girls sat in silence for a few minutes,   
“We should get inside,” Maren said at last, tilting her head towards the sky, where a full moon could be seen peeking out from behind a cloud. “It’s probably close to curfew and I don’t much fancy getting a detention.”   
They murmured in agreement and rose to their feet, wiping dirt off their robes and brushing flyaway hair away from their faces. After stowing their brooms in the broom shed they walked arm in arm back to the castle. Rose looked to Lucy on her left and Maren on her right, smiling to herself. It was nice to have friends in her year other than Lucy and Al. It made Hogwarts feel more like home. 

Easter holidays came and went. Rose missed the bustle of Easter at the Burrow, but the thrill of being in France and very far away from Scorpius Malfoy quickly banished any regrets from her mind.   
She returned to the castle by floo powder just after everyone else had arrived by carriage. After giving Aunt Minnie a hug and promising to stay out of trouble, Rose dusted off her robes and trotted off to the Great Hall. She had barely gotten through the doors when she was nearly bowled over by a crushing mass squeezing her from every direction.   
“Rosie, you’re back!” James’ voice called from somewhere above her head.   
“Y-yes,” Rose gasped out, slipping under the many arms which had encircled her and straightening up to see all her cousins beaming at her.   
“We missed you!” Dom said, wrapping her arm around Rose’s shoulder and giving her a quick squeeze. “How was France?”   
“It was brilliant,” Rose answered, beaming.   
“Was it warm there?” Albus asked. “I think you’ve got more freckles now than you did last week.”   
Rose self-consciously covered her nose with a hand. She had thought the same thing, but had hoped nobody else would notice the extra freckles.   
“Albus!” Lucy reprimanded, smacking him on the back. “That’s rude!”   
“Oy!” he yelped, stepping away and glaring. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing, it was just something I noticed—“   
“The most important thing we want to know,” Fred said loudly, drowning out Albus and Lucy’s bickering, “is did you bring us presents?”   
“Isn’t me being here a present enough?” Rose laughed, letting Fred pull her in for a hug.   
Fred chuckled and shook his head. “Grandma Molly’s Easter egg hunt wasn’t the same without you,” he said.   
“Did you actually find eggs this year since I wasn’t there to get them all first?” Rose teased, earning a scowl from Fred.   
“Hush,” he said, taking her by the arm and steering her towards the Gryffindor table, where all the cousins seemed to be headed despite the fact that most of them were not in that house. “We’re all eating together tonight,” Fred explained, nudging Rose into the seat between himself and Albus. “Since we didn’t get to see very much of each other over the holidays, with your family being abroad and Uncle Harry and Uncle Bill both having to work so much.”   
Rose smiled and dug into a plate of mashed potatoes, asking questions about the holiday and catching up on news of various family members and relaying her own stories from her week abroad. By the time the dessert plates disappeared she felt as though she had been at Grandma Molly’s for Easter after all. Her cousins had recounted nearly every second of the holiday.   
Rose and Lucy entered their dormitory that night in good spirits, though both of them were exhausted. Rose flopped onto her bed immediately and crawled beneath the covers.   
“How was the Gryffindor table?” Maren asked, chuckling when she saw Rose already ensconced in her blue sheets. “Tiring?”   
“Definitely,” Rose yawned, turning over on her stomach and closing her eyes. “I’m too sleepy now even to read.”   
“That’s when you know it’s bad,” Allie laughed. “When Rose is too tired to read.”   
“Bugger off,” Rose mumbled, already beginning to fade away into sleep.   
“Must be nice to have all sorts of cousins at school with you,” Maren mused, pulling back the blankets on her own bed and climbing in. “You have your entire family right here with you. It seems like it’s brilliant.”   
“Yes,” Rose murmured, smiling as she burrowed further into her pillow. Sleep tugged her further and further away from the conversation, but her lip still curled up at Maren’s words. “I love being a Weasley.” 

Time seemed to fly after Easter holidays. The days passed in a blur and before anyone knew it May 2nd arrived and the castle buzzed as older students prepared for the Victory Ball. Rose sat with Lucy on Molly’s bed, watching Dom and Molly get ready.   
“You look lovely,” Lucy sighed, sitting up next to Rose and staring at her sister and cousin with wide eyes.   
“Thank you,” Dom replied happily, her shimmery silver gown pooling around her as she sat on the adjacent bed. Her skin seemed almost to glow in the dim light of the dormitory and her strawberry blonde hair fell down her back in loose waves.   
Molly smiled from across the room and applied another coat of pink lip gloss. Her dark red hair was coiled and pinned against her head and she wore a pretty light green dress that draped loosely over her slim figure.   
“It’s strange not having Vic here to help with our hair,” Dom mused quietly. She pushed herself off the bed and walked to Molly, picking up her wand from a nearby table and waving it over Mollly’s head to instantly smooth down the flyaway hairs.   
“I know,” Molly agreed, putting the lip gloss in her purse and turning her head to look at herself from different angles in the mirror, patting her shiny, flyaway-free hair. “It was strange not being able to wish her happy birthday in person today.”   
“I bet Teddy took care of that for all of us,” Dom said with a wicked smirk, shooting a quick glance at Rose and Lucy before leaning over and whispering something in Molly’s ear. The two older girls dissolved into giggles.   
“What’s so funny?” Rose demanded, not happy at being left out of the joke.   
“N-nothing,” Dom choked out, trying to control her laughter. “I’ll tell you in a few years.”   
“Lucy, will you help me with my earrings?” Molly called out, rifling through a small jewelry box. “I don’t think I can get them on without ruining my nails.”   
Lucy got up and walked towards her sister, smiling wistfully. She took the small diamond earrings Molly held out. “I wish I could go to the ball,” she said mournfully.   
“You’ll get your chance soon,” Molly said, meeting her sister’s eye in the mirror and giving her a smile. “Only two more years.”   
“Or next year if we get asked,” Rose added with a grin. She pictured herself with her hair sleek and shiny and pinned up elegantly on her head, twirling across the dance floor in a pretty gown as Ly watched her in adoration, maybe finally realizing that he liked her as more than a family friend. That’s how it always happened in books, anyways.   
“Is there anyone in particular that would be able to ask you next year?” Dom asked, smirking and cocking an eyebrow.   
Rose flushed and bit her lip, turning her attention to a loose thread on the duvet below her as the daydream continued to play out in her head. Dom laughed and stood up, grabbing her clutch bag.   
“We should be going soon, Mols,” she said. “I don’t want to keep the boys waiting.”   
“You’re going with Nick Ferntail, aren’t you?” Rose asked, looking up suddenly. She tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice, but wasn’t sure if she succeeded.   
“Yes I am,” Dom answered. “But only because he’s a good snog,” she added with a wink.   
“Dominique!” Molly cried. “Don’t tell them things like that, what kind of example are you setting?”   
“The example that if a bloke’s a good snog, you should go to the ball with him,” Dom shrugged.   
“When did you snog Ferntail?” Rose asked, furrowing her brow. “Why didn’t we know about it?”   
Dom snorted and snapped her bag closed. “Oh, Rosie,” she said. “The number one rule of being a Weasley woman at Hogwarts is that if you’re snogging a bloke you don’t want to take home to meet Grandma Molly, don’t let your cousins know about it. This is a family of blabbermouths. Make sure you remember that.”   
“Or, you know, don’t snog blokes you don’t want to bring home to Grandma,” Molly put in, giving Dom a warning glance. “And on that note, I think it’s time we left. Have a good night, you two. We’ll tell you everything tomorrow.”   
“You promise?” Lucy asked. “And you’ll tell Roxie and James and Fred that we said hello?”   
“Yes, yes, of course,” Molly assured her younger sister, stooping down to give Lucy a hug. “We’ll tell you absolutely everything over breakfast tomorrow.”   
As it happened Dom and Molly both slept in the next morning and weren’t at breakfast to recount the evening to their eager cousins. Therefore Rose and Lucy slid into the Gryffindor table next to Fred and James, who looked tired but no worse for wear, and began bombarding the two boys with questions.   
“How was the ball?” Rose asked, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.   
“It was fun,” Fred said with a shrug. “We put itching powder in Jacob Flint’s dress robes so he was squirming through the entire thing it was amazing.”   
Rose rolled her eyes and chuckled. “Of course you did that,” she said. “But really how was it? Did you like the music? Did anything interesting happen? Oh, tell me about the dresses! Who had the prettiest one?”   
“I wasn’t paying attention to dresses,” Fred said, reaching over her for the plate of eggs. “I was more interested in the girls wearing them.”   
“You must have been paying at least a little bit of attention though,” Lucy said, turning to James expectantly. “Really, tell us about them.”   
“Luce, do I look like someone who can tell you about dresses?” James asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, I appreciate all the effort girls put into choosing them but honestly—“   
“You must have noticed something.”   
“I noticed that Madison Mulberry’s dress was extremely tight fitting around her—“   
“Stop! Okay, fine,” Lucy huffed, frowning. “You two are useless.”   
“We never claimed to be otherwise,” James said, ruffling Lucy’s hair and grinning.   
“Am I still your favorite cousin even if I’m useless?” Fred asked, leaning down to nudge Rose in the shoulder.   
Rose pretended to consider her answer as she snatched a piece of bacon off his plate and took a bite. “I s’pose so,” she said. “Although Dom is a much better person to talk about the ball with.”   
“I’m alright with that,” Fred chuckled.

Exams snuck up on them and all Rose’s friends began studying like mad. Molly, who was taking her O.W.L.s, drew up color coded study schedules for everyone before hiding away in the library day and night.   
Lucy followed her study schedule to the minute and shared it with Maren and Allie, who both looked rather frazzled. Rose tucked hers away in her bag and settled into an armchair in the common room with a book. She wasn’t terribly fussed about exams. She knew what was going on in every class. She vaguely remembered her vow to study harder for potions this year but honestly, sitting by the fire reading Sense and Sensibility was much more appealing. And she knew what she was doing in potions, anyway. At least, she knew all the important things.   
The week before term ended Fred came to the Ravenclaw common room and took Rose out for an evening fly to the astronomy tower as they had done the year before. Rose told him about how Jane Austen was her new favorite author, to which he answered with enthusiasm. After that Rose told him what Dom had said about not letting family know if you were snogging a boy you didn’t want to bring home. Fred didn’t find that comment amusing, telling Rose if he ever found out she were snogging someone and hadn’t told him, he would have to hex the boy.   
Exam week arrived. Rose’s roommates were all stony faced and nervous. Molly drove everyone insane with her grumbling and strangled cries that she was going to fail her O.W.L.s and be forced to live with her parents forever. To everyone’s surprise, James Potter spent two evenings in the library studying for a charms exam because he had made a bet with Roxanne that he could get an O.   
Rose still spent her evenings curled up by the fire, though she did look over her potions notes briefly the night before the exam.   
All of a sudden it was the last night of term. Exams were over and everybody felt, for the most part at least, that they had done alright. Potions had gone better than expected and Rose thought happily she wouldn’t be at all surprised if she managed to beat Scorpius Malfoy this year.   
Slytherin had won the quidditch cup; Al had caught the snitch in an astounding fifty seven seconds. Gryffiindor won the house cup, although Ravenclaw came in second. To celebrate, in the Great Hall at the end of year feast James and Fred set off fireworks that took the shape of a giant lion that roared so loud the plates and silverware trembled on the tables. McGonagall walked over and shouted at them, but didn’t punish them as it was the last night. Rose swore she saw the headmistress smile as she took her place back at the staff table.   
Exam results came that night and the second year Ravenclaw girls all agreed not to open theirs until they were in their dorm by themselves and could either cheer or cry as loud as they wished. Rose held the heavy envelope loosely, unlike Lucy who had hers in a death grip.   
“Ready?” Allie asked, looking around. “Open them…now!”   
They all tore into the envelopes hastily. There was a rustling of parchment and a general sigh of relief that signified that nobody had failed.   
“An O in charms and E’s in all the rest, except transfiguration,” Maren said, smiling contentedly as she tucked the parchment into her trunk.   
“Me too except I got an O in herbology as well,” Lucy said, looking relieved as she laid down in bed.   
“I got all E’s and an A in History of Magic and potions,” Allie added.   
“How about you, Rosie?” Lucy asked, giving Rose a knowing smile. “Top of the class in everything?”   
“Except potions,” Rose grumbled, tossing the parchment into her trunk in disgust. “Bloody Malfoy beat me again.”   
“But you’re top in everything else, aren’t you?” Lucy said.   
“Yeah,” Rose mumbled. “But I thought I beat him this year.”   
“You still did really well, though,” Allie said.   
Rose crossed her arms and scowled. “I hate the git.”   
“Rosie, really,” Lucy admonished, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You’re being ridiculous. And you’re not allowed to be in a foul mood the last night of term.”   
“Says who?” Rose demanded.   
“Says me,” Lucy said firmly, narrowing her eyes and glancing towards her wand. “We’re going to have a nice night before summer starts and I don’t get to see you every day. And I won’t have you ruin it because you’re too competitive for your own good.”   
Rose rolled her eyes but dropped onto her bed with a sigh, unfolding her arms.   
“Good,” Lucy said, rummaging under her bed for something. “Now girls, I have an entire year’s worth of Witch Weekly and we can do the quizzes. Ready to find out what amortentia smells like to us?”  
They stayed up far later than was wise, taking the Witch Weekly quizzes and laughing over their results, reminiscing over the past two years and making plans for the next five. Rose climbed into bed in the wee hours of the morning, very tired and full to the brim with affection for her roommates.   
“Make sure you lot come visit me at my dad’s office this summer,” Maren said sleepily. “We can go out for ice cream.”  
“We will,” Rose answered, snuggling into her sheets. Within minutes she had fallen asleep, her red curls splayed out over the blue pillowcase and her fingers twisted in the silky blankets. In the stillness the wind could be heard tinkling in through the windows, ushering second year out and beckoning third year in.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know if I'm ever going to finish this fic...it's really a bit ambitious. Basically I want to write an in-depth story about Rose's time at Hogwarts. There will be some Scorpius/Rose action, but this is more than just a Scorose story. I hope you enjoy!


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